


The Sapients Seven

by MartyrFan



Category: RWBY, Stellaris (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Commonwealth of Man, Drug Use, F/F, F/M, Multi, Neurodiversity, Post-Volume 7 (RWBY), Stellaris Preset Empires, Surviving Mars, United Nations of Earth, Violence, Would love a beta reader, Xenophilia, Xenophobia, cursing, neurodivergent original characters, unbetaed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:48:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28703916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MartyrFan/pseuds/MartyrFan
Summary: For thousands of years, the Kingdoms of Remnant have fought to survive, believing that if the Grimm overcame them, humanity's light would be snuffed out. However, they are not alone in the universe, not as a species and not as sapient beings. Team RWBY will be the first of Remnant to learn that, for better or for worse, the rest of humanity is coming, and they will bring a galaxy of change to Remnant.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Sun Wukong, Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Flynt Coal/Weiss Schnee, Jaune Arc/Original Character(s), Jaune Arc/Original Female Character(s), Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Oscar Pine/Ruby Rose, Penny Polendina/Original Character(s), Penny Polendina/Original Male Character(s), Yang Xiao Long/Original Character(s), Yang Xiao Long/Original Male Character(s), Yatsuhashi Daichi/Velvet Scarlatina
Comments: 24
Kudos: 10





	1. Planetfall

**Author's Note:**

> Be warned: I wasn't able to find a beta reader for this. I would greatly appreciate it if someone would be interested in proofreading this story for me. Also, this is a three-way crossover between the web series RWBY, the game Stellaris, and the game Suriviving Mars, which is very uncommon. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this, and feel free to leave a comment and/or kudos.
> 
> Edit: 1/13/2021. After someone pointed out that OC POVs can be a real turnoff for a fanfic, I've deleted the first eight chapters, and will be re-thinking how to write future ones. My apologies for how dry this originally was, I hope that I redeem myself by starting with this chapter instead and continuing with better POVs in the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I came up with the next scene the moment I saw the end of Volume 7. Time for the canon divergence to start up.
> 
> Edit as of 2/10/2021: Replaced "Jerrika" with Oum.

**Planetfall**

Growing up on Patch, Ruby and Yang had been familiar with the monothestic religion prominent on the island. As a native of Patch, their father had taught them about Oum, the creator god, who would one day return to banish the Grimm and make right His creation. Ruby's original outfit had featured His symbol, the Cross, and Qrow wore it as a necklace along with a few other Huntsmen and Huntresses.

Ever since Beacon, however, Ruby had foregone incorporating the symbol in her outfits. And ever since she and Yang had learned of the truth behind the Brother Gods, their faith in Oum had plummeted, which hadn't helped at Brunswick Farms.

Now, Ruby found herself praying to Him once more as the gigantic whale Grimm emerged from the storm cloud, red lightning arcing all around it and the flying Grimm escorting it. The Grimm in Mantle, Ironwood turning on them, RWBY's fight with the AceOps, Neo stealing the Relic of Knowledge, Penny becoming the Winter Maiden, Oscar going missing, and now the biggest Grimm of all time flying right towards Atlas. If there was a time for a miracle, it was now.

The first thing she heard was a dull roar off in the distance that rapidly grew louder and louder. Glancing out of the bullhead and up towards the sound, she spotted a dim light above the clouds that was growing brighter with every passing second. It wasn’t the sun; that was just poking its head over the horizon.

“What’s that?” she called out, pointing. Maria turned the bullhead so that she and her passengers could see the strange light.

“Looks like a meteor,” Professor Polendina said, frowning. “Never heard one that loud though.”

The light grew brighter and the roar grew louder, until finally it burst through the clouds. Ruby’s mouth dropped open. It wasn’t a meteor; it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was simple in design, like a giant bullet. A shield glowed red around, a huge plume of smoke and fire blooming out behind it. Jets of flame shot out from its front and sides at it barrelled through the air.

It arced gracefully through the air as it raced forward, shooting over and past Mantle and Atlas, past their bullhead, and, as though guided by the hand of Jerrika Himself, embedded itself with a loud, crunching _thud_ into the head of the monstrous, flying, whale Grimm.

The huge Grimm let out a bellow as the huge projectile disappeared into its oversized head. Still bellowing, it began to fall from the sky, heading straight for the ground. With a booming _crash_ , it slammed into the icy tundra below and began to slide, carving a huge ditch through the ground as its momentum and mass carried it forward. Its fins were ripped off, only increasing the volume of its roars. 

For a long, horrifying moment, it looked like the Grimm was going to hit Mantle’s defensive wall and plow through into the city. About a hundred meters from the wall, the whale slowed to a stop. The bulk of its head and body towered far above the wall, above even the inner skyscrapers of Mantle. Ruby could only imagine the panic that the sight of the whale was generating.

Its bellows of rage and pain now subsiding into dying moans, the whale raised its head and opened its huge maw to let loose a final groan before collapsing, the strange orange light in its head winking out. Starting from the point where the...“projectile” (she guessed that’s what it was) had penetrated the whale, it was beginning to disintegrate, huge clouds of black particles billowing out and casting a shadow over all of Mantle.

When the whale’s corpse had fully disintegrated and its particles dissipated, there was only the massive trench it had dug in its dying moments. Like all Grimm, without these pieces of evidence, it could have hardly been said to have existed at all. 

At the end of the trench, balancing on the rim, was the destroyer of such a terrible beast. The projectile was no longer glowing from heat or spewing fire from its rear. It lay very still, reminding Ruby of the weapons that remained behind after Ren had killed the Nuckalavee, their intended purpose now fulfilled after years of being embedded in the monter’s hide.

“What the hell is that?” Yang said, pointing at the projectile.

Ruby glanced back at her friends. Everyone was staring wide-eyed at the scene before them, amazement conquering any sense of victory or relief over the whale Grimm’s death. That hadn’t felt like a battle, more like two forces of nature meeting and clashing, far beyond the control of mere mortals to affect the outcome. Was this what it was like for the first humans when the Brother Gods had fought each other?

“I’m guessing Atlesian superweapon,” Jaune said. He glanced over to Penny and her father. “Does that look familiar to either of you?”

“No,” the Professor answered, his eyes not leaving the projectile. “That’s not one of ours. There’s no weapon in the world that could fire something like that.”

“And judging from its flight path, trajectory, and speed,” Penny added in, “it couldn’t have been fired from any known Atlesian installations.”

“Then where could it have been fired from?” Blake asked, her ears standing straight up on her head.

“...From outside the atmosphere,” Penny said after a long moment. “From outside of Remnant.”

Before the protests about the impossibility of that could start up, a shriek wrent the air, forcing them all to cover their ears. Poor Blake was left to choose between covering her human ears and her much more sensitive feline ones; Penny noticed after a moment and put her hands over Blake’s human ears, apparently having shut off her auditory sensors.

“Why couldn’t it be my ears that I lost and not my eyes,” Maria lamented when the horrible scream was over. “What the hell was that?”

“I have located the source of the sound,” Penny said, her eyes blinking. “It is coming from the deepest part of the trench. It’s…” Her pupils constricted as the zoom function in her eyes activated.

“It’s Salem,” she said, an uncertain look coming over her face. “And she looks very upset.”

“We’ve got incoming,” Ren broke in, pointing out a window on the opposite side of the bullhead. 

Everyone rushed over to the other side. The huge horde of Grimm, both air- and landborne, were making a straight beeline for Salem, and for Mantle. The first horde of the night had been a nightmare to deal with. An attack of this magnitude so soon afterwards would be devastating, especially now that Ironwood had given up on Mantle.

“We need to stop her,” Ruby came to the decision immediately. “Maria,” she called up to their pilot, “set us down near the trench!” 

Without waiting for her Silver-Eyed to reply, Ruby turned to Jaune. “Jaune, if you guys can hold off Salem’s allies, Penny can get me close, and I’ll try to turn her to stone. No need to kill her if we can freeze her.”

Jaune nodded. “Weiss and I can stay behind, support everyone as they need it. We see Emerald, we should all focus on taking her out first before she can use her semblance. We should work in pairs, use our advantage in numbers as best as we can.”

“I call dibs on Mercury,” Yang growled, thumping her metal fist into a palm. “It’s time for some real payback.”

“Me and Renny got that Hazel guy pegged!” Nora exclaimed, grinning rabidly. 

Neo and Cinder were probably still back in Atlas, Watts was in custody, while Tyrian had been in transit towards prison. That left Hazel for Ren and Nora, Mercury for Yang and Blake, Salem for herself and Penny, any surprises and support to be handled by Jaune and Weiss, and Emerald to be targeted by all of them. A solid plan on such short notice.

“Ruby,” Weiss said hesitantly, “in Ironwood’s office, what Salem said about your mother….”

“Can we be sure that your eyes will even work on her?” Blake finished for her.

“We don’t know what really happened,” she replied before those not present for that could ask anything. “And besides, my mom was alone. I’ve got you guys. Either we stop Salem here, or she destroys Mantle, Atlas, and any of hope the world uniting against her. There’s nothing else we can do; turning aside from this will make us no better than Ironwood.”

“Ruby’s right,” Penny said before brightening. “Additionally, I’m sure if we take down Salem, the General will revoke the warrants for your arrests!” she added happily.

There was also that.

“We’re approaching the trench now!” Maria called from the cockpit. “I’ll provide air support. I doubt that Salem bitch has ever been shot with a missile before, haha!”

Ruby smiled as the bullhead approached the trench and the side door began opening to allow them to jump out, or fly out, in Penny’s case. Time to exercise their landing strategies again.

“Penny!” Professor Polendina called out as they all prepared to jump, the wind almost drowning him out. “Be careful! I don’t want to lose you again!”

“Don’t worry, father!” Penny answered back, giving him a smile. “Like Ruby said, I’m not alone this time!”

_Damn straight_ , Ruby thought as she hooked an arm around her friend and tilted them both out of the bullhead. As they began to fall down towards the ground, Ruby engaged her semblance, turning herself and Penny into a cloud of red-and-green petals that began shooting towards Salem and Co. Somehow, Penny activated the thrusters in her boots, giving them an even greater burst of speed.

Below them, and quickly rushing up to meet them, was Salem, who appeared to be giving out orders to her followers. Behind her was Hazel, Emerald, and Mercury; all of them were looking the worse for wear, not surprising after surviving a flying whale Grimm crashing into the ground and then being at the epicenter of Salem shrieking like an Alpha Banshee. There was no sign of Cinder, Neo, or Tyrian, so the plan was going great already.

With a resounding _crash_ , Ruby and Penny slammed into Salem, sending her flying. Not waiting for the resulting cloud of shattered ice and water vapor to dissipate, Penny immediately brought Floating Array out from her back and began firing randomly in the direction Salem had flown and at her subordinates. Crescent Rose unfolded in Ruby’s hands as she hefted it, prepared to fend off anyone who came through the mist.

When Tyrian himself came charging out of the mist at them, Ruby slashed at him diagonally with a viciousness that belied her usual nature. After nearly killing Qrow and framing Penny for the innocents he had murdered at Robyn’s assembly, she had no problems with bisecting him.

Instead of parrying her slash, letting his aura take it, or dodging it, Tyrian let Crescent Rose go right through him, evaporating like mist as the scythe passed through his chest. A moment later, a Beowolf, a Grimm not native to the icy tundra of Solitas, leapt out of the mist towards them, mouth open and claws extended. 

Ruby responded by planting her weapon’s head on the ground and pointing the other end of the shaft towards the Beowolf. The Grimm impaled itself on the short blade on that end and evaporated without a sound. There wasn’t even a sensation of impact from falling upon her weapon.

As the mist began to thin, projectiles from Mercury’s boots began to shoot towards them. The first one impacted the ground next to Ruby and detonated, forcing Ruby and Penny to jump back. When Ruby instinctively used Crescent Rose to shield herself from the second one, it vanished when it “struck” her.

“Guys!” Ruby said into her earpiece, “someone take out Emerald or Mercury; she’s making illusions of his projectiles!”

“Way ahead of you,” Yang replied, followed by the sound of Ember Celia going off. 

When an echo rang out overhead, Ruby looked up as the mist finally disappeared, to see Yang shooting towards the ground with her gauntlets pointed right behind her. As she neared the ground, she rolled into a ball and flipped over, straightening out and slamming feet first into a surprised Mercury, Blake right behind her.

Nora came down with a yell, shaking the ground as she swung Magnhild into it and used the momentum to propel herself towards Hazel. Ren landed in a roll and came back up with both barrels of Stormflower on full auto, focusing his fire on the much larger man.

Weiss was riding on the back of her Queen Lancer, shooting off Dust projectiles with her glyphs, keeping Salem and her subordinates busy with dodging and not with retaliating. Jaune circled to a landing with his shield in its glide function; when he landed, he immediately went after Emerald.

Emerald dodged his first attack and jumped back, focusing on Jaune. A smirk came over her face as Jaune froze, his own face taking on a haunted and shocked expression. Grinning, she began to circle around to attack, her semblance obviously at work.

“Weiss,” Ruby said into her earpiece, “dilate me!”

With a flourish of Myrtlenaster, a black version of the Schnee family emblem appeared under Ruby, and the world slowed down. Hazel had caught Magnhild by the head and was twisting to throw Nora while bullets from Stormflower slowly struck him, fire and metal directed at him behind Ren’s steely gaze. Mercury was in the middle of his break-dancing routine, just barely holding off Blake and Yang, the former letting a shadow clone take a projectile while looking for an opening, the latter simply letting the projectiles strike her and power her semblance. 

Despite the plethora of targets for her to snipe at, Ruby focussed on Emerald as the most dangerous enemy besides Salem. Taking aim with Crescent Rose, Ruby fired shot after shot for as long as the time dilation glyph held up.

The result from outside of the glyph was a short, but near-constant stream of sniper rounds striking Emerald, draining her aura and distracting her from using her semblance. When the glyph wore out, Ruby could hear Emerald crying out as her aura flared wildly and she went down to one knee. She looked up only for Jaune’s shield to slam into her face as he roared. Emerald’s aura broke in a flash the same color as her hair and she collapsed to the ground.

“Emerald!” Mercury screamed, the moment of distraction allowing Yang to close the distance between them and clock him in the face. Before he could recover, Blake charged right through her last clone and struck from the side.

Seeing Emerald down and Mercury in trouble seemed to make Hazel angrier than usual. Roaring their names, he grabbed Nora and threw her at Ren, forcing him to stop firing and to catch her. From his pockets, he extracted two red Dust crystals and slammed them into his biceps. Instead of yellow lightning, crimson fire burst from his hands as his veins glowed red. His charge towards Blake, Yang, and Jaune was interrupted by another of Weiss’ glyphs. With Emerald down, Jaune turned his attention to aiding his team against Hazel, while Weiss began helping Blake and Yang with taking down Mercury.

With her subordinates down or occupied, Ruby and Penny turned their attention to Salem. It was horrifyingly fascinating to watch as Salem got back to her feet, her bones reattaching and her flesh knitting itself back together from the high velocity impact of their first strike. It was strange to see her regenerative powers firsthand; usually when someone was hit that hard, their aura would take the damage and they would be fine, and someone without aura would be dead, no question. 

Salem could suffer the exact same injuries as a normal person, but could heal from them no matter what. That was a problem if one was aiming to kill her. However, if the goal was to immobilize or delay her, that simply gave them more options. Very bloody, violent options….

“Penny, give her everything you’ve got,” Ruby said, grinning maliciously. 

“With pleasure, Ruby,” Penny replied, Floating Array spinning around her.

“You think you can stop me?” Salem began as her wounds finished healing. “Ozma, your mother, and thousands have tried before you, and none of them have-”

She was abruptly caught off as a blast of cold hit her. When it dissipated, Salem was frozen solid in a huge chunk of ice, her face stuck in a look of surprise.

“None of them were us,” Penny said, lowering her hands, her eyes two pillars of green flame.

Despite being frozen, Salem’s expression took on an angry set. The ice began to first steam, and then to crack around its prisoner, heat glowing from her hands.

“Ruby, get ready,” Penny said, Floating Array swirling around behind her and charging up as one big unit. “I’ll hold her off for as long as you need.”

“Give one for me,” Ruby replied, collapsing Crescent Rose down into her compact mode. She wouldn’t be needing it for this.

When the ice broke, and Salem emerged from the steam with a shriek of rage, Penny opened fire. A full-on blast from Floating Array was capable of slicing bullheads in two. Against an aura-negative person, the results were to be expected. 

Salem’s lower half hit the ground, followed by the smoking remains of her forearms. Already, white flesh and bone began to grow rapidly from the blackened mess that was Salem’s entrails. Rather than letting her regenerate fully, Penny launched an icicle from her hands, impaling Salem’s lower torso and freezing it solid from the inside out. Another blast from Floating Array, and the frozen torso and forearms were shattered.

With Salem very much incapacitated, Ruby closed her eyes and began to remember what she wanted to save, to preserve, and to keep safe.

_Team RWBY in their dorm. Weiss apologizing with a cup of coffee. Blake cheering them on with a RWBY flag. Yang encouraging her on the day of that Ursa attack_ . _Team RWBY sitting on the ledge and looking out towards Vale in the aftermath of the Breach. Jaune and Pyrrha at the Prom. Team JNPR at the Vytal Tournament. Ruby greeting Uncle Qrow after his fight with Winter. Talking with Oscar in the training room. Maria mentoring her in Argus. Learning Penny’s secret in Vale. Meeting with Team FNKI and learning of Flynt and Weiss’ relationship. Training with the AceOps. And finally, her mother, standing at the cliff where her gravestone resided._

“Ruby, now!” Penny’s voice came floating through the pleasant memories. “She’s fully regenerated, do it now!”

Focusing on the mental image of Salem frozen as a statue forever, Ruby opened her eyes and let loose.

When the light finally died down, Salem stood there, her stony face frozen in a rictus of pain, fear, rage, and disbelief, one hand shielding her forehead, the other outstretched towards Ruby like she had been preparing to fire something off. It was a perfect representation of her, down to her individual hairs, blackened veins, and cape; after all, it was her.

“YES!” screamed Yang, followed by a loud thud and Mercury’s cry of pain. “That’s my little sister, bitches!”

Ruby turned around to find Mercury on his last legs against Blake, Weiss, and Yang, while Hazel’s defense was buckling before the onslaught of Nora, Ren, and Jaune. Emerald showed no signs of getting up, and Salem, the cause of so much misery and death, was a chunk of stone, frozen for all eternity. Things were finally looking up for the first time since the rally.

“Ruby…” Penny’s voice was hushed, not joyful with celebration. Ruby turned to find her staring at Salem’s statue, Floating Array beginning to recharge.

Hoping beyond hope that Penny was just messing with her, Ruby turned to look back at Salem. Behind the shielding arm, a purple glow had appeared and was intensifying moment by moment. Cracks were spreading across her stone skin, spiraling outward from her forehead and over her face and shoulders. A sound was slowly rising, like someone was turning up the volume on an HV screen. It sounded like a scream. 

Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose as hope died in her chest. Halfway through her weapon’s transition from Storage Mode to Rifle, the stone exploded off of Salem, her shriek of outrage assaulting Ruby’s ears while the bits and pieces of thin rock shattered against her Aura.

Wincing at the sonic onslaught, Ruby brought up Crescent Rose and fired off a shot, nailing Salem right in the cleavage window of her dress. 

“Goddess!” screamed a voice that Ruby was hoping she’d never hear again.

She turned, bringing up Crescent Rose as a shield to avoid Tyrian Callows’ arm-mounted blades. His usual psychopathic grin was replaced with a snarl of rage and hate as he pushed her back, howling.

“You will not desecrate our Goddess!” he screamed.

Ruby slipped into a cloud of roses, practically teleporting over and behind him like she had done in Ironwood’s office. Crescent Rose shifted into its Scythe Mode, and Ruby swung around to slash at him, for real this time. Tyrian’s new prosthetic tail curved up, catching the blade before it could reach him. He flexed it, pushing her back and spinning around to slash at her. 

“I’m starting to understand why that crime boss in Vale had it out for you, ‘Little Red’,” he hissed as she parried him and slashed again. 

Ruby was aware of Penny engaging Salem, circling her in the air, dodging Salem’s multi-colored blasts of Magic and alternating between firing icy elemental attacks and Floating Array blasts. 

“Everyone,” she barked into the earpiece. “When you’re done with your opponent-” She paused to turn into a cloud of roses, letting Tyrian’s swipe go right through them and not her Aura and body. She reformed behind him and opened fire. “Help Penny!” she finished.

With Salem’s immunity to being turned into stone also part of her regeneration ability, the only thing they could do was delay her and hope that the Atlesian military would come around and target her, wear her down and figure out a containment method in the meanwhile. The only other option was turning tail and running, and between Salem, the oncoming Grimm horde, and Mantle, that wasn’t an option.

The fight between herself and Tyrian turned into something of a dance, the two of them dodging, parrying, and striking at each other with a synchronicity that belied the differences between the two of them. It had been a while since their first and last encounter in the abandoned village in Mistral, and she had been learning and training hard in that time. Back then, she, Nora, Ren, and Jaune had barely been able to hold him off together. Now, she was a match for him and judging from the frustration now on his face, he could tell, much to her satisfaction.

A yell from Penny distracted her, which almost resulted in Tyrian planting a blade in her chest. Ruby phased through it again and managed to get a hit in, sending the Scorpion Faunus back and giving her a moment to check up on her friend.

Penny had guided Salem away from the rest of them to keep their misses from hitting anyone, and to use stronger attacks on her. For a brand-new Maiden, that was a smart move, considering her lack of practice with her incredible new powers and what they were capable of.

To her horror, Penny was on the ground, struggling against a multitude of Grimm-like hands. She would freeze or blast one off, only for two to take its place. 

“Ruby!” she yelled, struggling hard but futilely. “Somebody, please help me!”

Before Ruby could charge forward, her earpiece buzzed. 

“Stay away from her, you bitch!” Maria’s voice announced. The scream of missiles filled the air as Maria launched them from the manta. Salem looked up from Penny to just in time to catch one right in the face. Tyrian bellowed in outrage as the missiles detonated, converting Salem to a pulp.

With Salem a bloody mess on the tundra, her spell broke and Penny shot back into the sky, a trail of disintegrating Grimm hands in her wake. Ruby caught Tyrian off guard when she resumed her attack, getting in some good hits before he could gather himself and mount an adequate defense.

This was getting far too hairy. Where the hell was the military?

As Salem was reforming herself, Maria’s manta swung back and began to perform another attack run. As she approached, an arrow wreathed in fire shot across the sky and struck one of the unfired missile batteries. They exploded, wreathing the cockpit in flames and putting the craft into a dive.

“NO!” Penny and Ruby both screamed in horror as they watched the bullhead spiraling down into a crash. 

Penny’s boot thrusters flared as she started to rocket towards them, only for a certain and very despised Fall Maiden to fly down and intercept her in mid-flight. Cinder carried Penny down to the ground, hitting it with a cry of pain.

“Penny!” Ruby began to shoot towards their landing site, only for a barrier of Grimm hands to shoot up out of a red-black vortex that had suddenly appeared in front of her. Ruby forcibly rematerialized as the hands somehow grabbed a hold of her. She found that she couldn’t phase through them; they were somehow nullifying her Semblance, and her Aura, as their claws cut into her clothes and her skin. She tried to maneuver Crescent Rose so that she could cut them off, but her arm was quickly immobilized and her weapon pulled from her hand.

“No!” she cried, struggling desperately only for a hand to cover her mouth.

“Ruby!” She looked up to see everyone peeling off from their respective targets to rush towards her and Salem. “We’re coming!” Yang called.

“Enough of this,” Salem said in disgust as she came into Ruby’s view. She raised a hand and a forest of Grimm hands shot up around them. Yang and Ren immediately opened fire into the grotesque mass of wriggling limbs, while Jaune and Blake set about cutting them, Nora with bashing them, and Weiss with shooting Dust projectiles at them.

Despite their efforts, more Grimm hands sprouted up their vortexes, overwhelming her sister, teammate, and friends. Salem raised her other hand and conjured up a black ball which shot a bolt of rainbow energy at Weiss’ Queen Lancer, finishing it. Weiss fell through the resulting cloud of white and blue particles to land on a glyph, which was then struck by another bolt. She let out a shriek as she fell the rest of the way into a waiting swarm of hands.

“Cinder, dear!” Salem called out. “Kindly refrain from killing that toy, for now.” She glanced down at Ruby, the annoyed and disgusted look on her face changing to the same condescending smile she had worn in Ironwood’s office. “I’m going to need her alive for a moment.”

Another bullhead settled down a short distance away, a single person dismounting from it and running towards them. With a shock, Ruby recognized her: It was Neopolitian, Torchwick’s little ice-cream themed henchgirl, alive and well and looking livid.

She covered the distance between them rapidly. She slid to a stop in front of Ruby and pulled off the handle off her umbrella, revealing a short but wickedly sharp knife. With the other hand, she grabbed Ruby’s head and craning it back, exposing her neck. 

As Neo raised her knife, Ruby’s heart almost stopped as she realized that she was about to die. The familiar bowler hat on her would-be killer’s head explained her motive very well. Just as the knife was about to descend, its hand was arrested by one of Grimm. About a dozen more poked up out of the ground around Neo, their message clear.

“Whatever grudge you hold against her, it can wait a few minutes,” Salem said, looking imperiously down at Neo, who stared back with wide eyes. “In aiding my Fall Maiden, you have come into my good graces, and trust me.” 

Her voice turned to iron and Ruby could see the Grimm hand tightening its grip on Neo’s wrist. “You want to stay there,” she finished.

Neo opened her hand, letting the blade fall out and stick into the cold ground. She raised both hands in a surrendering gesture, nodding her head rapidly.

Salem smiled and the Grimm hand let go, it and its brethren sinking down into the ground. “Very good,” the Witch said, turning away from her.

Neo glared back down at Ruby, her eyes holding a deadly promise, before turning after her new boss. Great, now she had Torchwick’s former sidekick as an adversary.

Cinder came into view, dragging Penny behind her. With her Grimm arm, she tossed Penny at Salem’s feet, eliciting a cry of pain from the android. Salem gestured and she was immediately restrained under a mass of Grimm tentacle-hands. Mercury was next, supporting a weakened Emerald over one shoulder. Tyrian rushed by and prostrated himself at Salem’s feet. Hazel was nowhere to be seen, and Ruby wondered for a short moment where he had gone off to.

“My Grace,” Tyrian gushed to his “Goddess”. “A thousand apologies for letting these heretics,” he spat the word, “stand in your way and disrespect you so.”

“It is alright, Tyrian,” Salem replied, accepting his worship as normal. “Resistance was to be expected, though I didn’t think it would be so soon and direct.”

“My Queen.” Cinder was kneeling next to Penny, her eye closed, head bowed, and Grimm arm across her chest in salute.

“Cinder,” Salem said, giving her a strange smile. “When I chose you as my vessel for the Maidens, I put my trust in you. So I trust,” her smile disappeared, “that you wouldn’t possibly return to me empty-handed.”

In response, Cinder held up the Lamp in offering. “The Relic of Knowledge. I took it right from under Ironwood’s nose.”

“No,” Ruby groaned, muffled by the hand over her mouth. She noticed Neo blink in surprise at Cinder before scowling and crossing her arms. No honor among thieves.

Tyrian looked like he wanted to say something, but Salem began before he could.

“And just as the key to unlocking its power fell right into our hands.” She turned and began walking back to Ruby. Behind her, Emerald reached out to Cinder and called her name in excitement despite her condition.

“Quiet,” was Cinder’s only response to Emerald’s concern. The look of hurt and disappointment that crossed the mint-haired girl’s face brought a pang of sympathy to Ruby’s heart, but only for a moment. 

Salem gestured, and the arms holding Ruby shifted, twisting her up and around until she was on her knees before the Mistress of the Grimm. The hand over her face was removed, and she gasped for air after nearly suffocating through her nose.

“In Ironwood’s office,” Salem said, smiling down at her, “You said that the Lamp showed you everything about me, Ruby Rose. Now, tell me,” she leaned down and her face hardened, “how do you use the Lamp.”

Ruby spit in Salem’s face.

“How dare you!?” hissed Tyrian, starting forward and bringing his fist back to strike Ruby with his blades. He stopped at Salem’s signal to halt.

Disdainfully, she raised a hand and wiped the wad of saliva off her face, frowning at Ruby like she was a misbehaving child. “That was rude,” she stated.

“Do your worst,” Ruby snarled, “I’ll die before I tell you that.” She willed her eyes to glow silver and happy to see that particular ability still in effect. Salem didn’t react, but Cinder flinched back.

“I believe you,” Salem said after a moment. “That’s why I’ll do nothing to you.” She straightened up, raised a hand, and snapped her fingers.

Immediately, screams of agony wrent the air. Ruby almost gave herself whiplash to see what was happening, and her heart leapt up into her throat. 

Crimson electricity passed over the Grimm tentacle-arms and hands, shocking her sister, teammates, and friends. Their muscles constricted to the point that they were arching off the ground, their cries of pain and fear sending knives straight into Ruby’s heart. Instead of lightning, Nora’s restraints were glowing red hot, signifying great heat instead of electrocution. From her cries, it obviously hurt just as badly.

“Stop!” Ruby screamed. “Stop, I’ll tell you! Just please stop hurting them!”

Another snap of Salem’s fingers and the electricity and the heat disappeared, leaving them all heaving for breath and actually smoking. Ruby could see tears leaking from Yang’s eyes; that must have been painful beyond belief.

“Now,” Salem began again, “tell me: How does one use the Lamp?”

“Ruby, no,” groaned Blake. “Don’t tell her any-anything. It-it isn’t that bad.”

The other began chiming in, begging her not to talk. In response, Salem raised her hand and prepared to snap again.

“Jinn!” Ruby screamed in desperation. When Salem looked back at her questioningly, she continued, looking down at the ground. “Hold the Lamp and say the name ‘Jinn’. It’ll do the rest.”

She kept her eyes downcast. She didn’t want to see the others looking at her now that she had betrayed them. Not only them, but Oscar, Uncle Qrow, Mantle, Atlas, and all of Remnant. Maybe Ironwood and Harriet had been right about her.

“Thank you, my dear,” Salem crooned. She reached down and forced Ruby to look up at her, cradling her face in her hands. “When your mother came to kill me, she ended up just like this. Well, not quite. She was defiant to the bitter end, when I gouged out her eyes…”

Salem’s hands moved over Ruby’s face, keeping her looking up while bringing her thumbs up to her eyes. Ruby couldn’t help but focus on the sharp talons that Salem possessed instead of thumbnails, black as the Grimm and just as sharp as their claws, if not more so.

“After which I threw her from the highest window of my home to be devoured by Grimm. When I checked later, only her weapon remained. There was nothing left of her body, not even a speck of blood.”

She flexed her thumbs, preparing to drive them into Ruby’s eye sockets. “I keep your mother’s weapon over my fireplace with all the other keepsakes from my dead enemies. I’ll be certain to give yours the same honor after Torchwick’s lackey and dear Tyrian have had their way with you.”

Before Salem could follow through and gouge out Ruby’s eyes, two things happened at the same time.

One, a sound like a gunshot, but with a strong, hollow _brrr_ undertone, rang out from the side.

Two, Salem’s head exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally, we get to the POV of a RWBY character, and the titular character at that. I hope that I captured Ruby's character, her speech patterns, and the speech patterns of her friends and allies. Also, I managed to get the Alien reference from the episode "Amity", so that's a double reference right there!
> 
> The next chapter is still in the works, and I've got two other fanfics to work on, one of them a year overdue for an update (WonderShock; I'm so ashamed). I hope that you've all enjoyed this so far. I'm hoping that someone would be interested in proofreading the drafts for these chapters and any future ones I write.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts, opinions, and criticisms (constructive ones please), and/or leave me a kudos. I hope you enjoyed the beginning of this new journey.


	2. The Newcomers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newcomers arrive on Remnant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good news: I found a betareader in Utruk Doomhammer of FanFiction and AO3. A big hand to them for looking over the drafts for chapters 1 and 2 of "The Sapients Seven". For a crossover between RWBY and Stellaris, with elements of Surviving Mars thrown in for good measure, I wasn't feeling too confident about finding someone to look over my writing of it. Thankfully, I was proven wrong.
> 
> I hope that the cliffhanger from the first chapter had you all salivating for more. Good news: When I get started on a new story, I'm very prolific about writing new chapters for it. Feel free to leave a comment with your thoughts, opinions, and ideas after reading this chapter. Enjoy!
> 
> Edit as of 3/5/2021: Added Atlesian airfleet action for realism.

**The Newcomers**

Yang had been about to scream when Salem's words fully registered, her clawed thumbs about to plunge into her baby sister's eye sockets. That scream turned into a yell of surprise when the Bitch's head had exploded, sending bone, grey matter, and black blood everywhere.

A second shot went right through Salem's wrists, separating her from Ruby and sending her body spinning to land on the ground. As Tyrian screamed in rage at seeing his "Goddess" bereft of a head and pair of hands, the horrid Grimm hands that had been holding her and the others down and torturing them dissolved.

With a triumphant yell, Yang was back on her feet. Mercury was caught off guard as she shot over to him and landed one final blow, sending him down to the ground, his grey Aura flaring before breaking.

"And that's for everything," she finished, glaring down at him before turning her gaze to her sister, who was still kneeling where Salem had left her. "Ruby!" She cried, rushing past the wide-eyed Emerald.

Tyrian appeared between her and Ruby, blades out and tail raised, baring his teeth at her. "You will not touch our Goddess'-" he began, only to be cut off as another shot rang out. The Scorpion Faunus was thrown to the side, his Aura flickering wildly from a powerful hit.

"Freeze!" a new voice rang out. Yang glanced up to see a figure walking over the crest of the trench rim, a rifle in their hands. Seeing as they had just shot Salem and then Tyrian, and they weren't wearing an Atlesian military uniform, Yang dismissed them as a threat and turned to Ruby.

Her little sister was just kneeling there, staring ahead as Salem's severed hands loosened around her face and then fell off. Her Aura flared lightly where the claws threatened to dig into her skin. If Salem had gone through with it, she would have been very slow about it to get past Ruby's unbroken Aura.

"I said freeze!" the newcomer yelled again, firing a shot. Cinder cried out now, followed by a thump and Emerald yelling Cinder's name in concern.

"Ruby, Ruby!" Yang cried out, kneeling in front of her sister and carefully grabbing her by the shoulders. "Are you alright?" she begged. Ruby's silver eyes were unfocused, not seeing her, staring a thousand yards ahead with tears threatening to start pouring out.

"Lop'dolf, handle the big one, would you kindly?" the newcomer asked.

Over Ruby's shoulder, Yang could see Hazel advancing on them rapidly, Nora and Ren preparing to intercept him. Before they could get to him, however, a shape landed right in front of him with a loud _crunch_ of ice. They were easily as tall as Yatsuhashi, and like him, they favored swords. With one arm, they raised a huge blade that she almost mistook for a club with how thick and bulky it was and brought it down.

Hazel managed to catch it with the palms of his hands, his arms visibly shaking with the effort it took to keep the blade from completing its descent.

"You're a strong one, for a Human," the swordsman said, a smile in their odd voice. They coiled back their other arm and then shot it forward in a very fast, very hard undercut to Hazel's stomach.

Hazel was almost folded in two as he lifted off the ground, the force of the punch somehow enough to turn him airborne. The only sound he made was the beginnings of a gigantic _ooof_ as the air was forced from his lungs and then he was too far away for any further noises to be heard.

"And Team Rocket's blasting off again," a new voice called gleefully from the rim, signalling that more backup was on the way.

"Hazel!" cried Mercury and Emerald, the latter helping the former to his feet from where he had fallen. "What the fuck did you do?" Mercury yelled.

"I punched him," the swordsman said, turning towards them. "Frankly, I'm surprised that he didn't break. Are you Humans after all?"

What kind of question was-. Yang froze as she finally got a good look at them.

They were wearing some kind of mask, not the kind that the White Fang wore, but transparent like a biomask. The edges appeared to end in some kind of seal, allowing the mask's user to show their face without risking any kind of biological contamination. And their face was most certainly not Human, or Faunus.

It was like a grasshopper's face, but flattened, like how a person's face was flatter than a dog's. A long pair of mandibles jutted out from where its jaws should be, which it's mask curved around. Yang could only see one pair of eyes on its seemingly noseless face. All around the sides and on the top of its head were a symmetrical array of horn-like things, covered in an orange exoskeleton, but not terribly sharp. Beneath the neck, it wore some kind of armor, which could be mistaken for more exoskeleton if it didn't reflect the light so well. On its back were four scabbards, one empty, another with a sword just like the one they were hold, and two more, slimmer ones.

"Miss, is your friend alright?" the first person asked. "Does she require medical attention?"

Yang tore her gaze from the over-two-meter-tall, bipedal insect and looked up to Ruby's rescuer, only to freeze again.

Their androgynous form and features were defintiely human, but the coloring was all off. Their skin was gunmetal grey and looked much smoother than Human skin. Their eyes were red, but a shade that was metallic and cold, not at all like Uncle Qrow's. They were completely bald, with the exception of their eyebrows, which were pure white.

They wore a red-and-black dress suit with white accents, yet they appeared to show no sign of noticing the cold. Their weapon was indeed a rifle, a large, thick thing that didn't appear to have a scope, iron sights, or any sights at all. It appeared to be one solid piece, not screw or seam to be seen. It wasn't like any gun that Yang had ever seen, not in Atlas, not at any of the Academies, and even in any of Ruby's old gun magazines.

"I-I think she's just in shock," Yang managed, tearing her eyes from the stranger and looking back at Ruby. "It's been a rough day."

"That's an understatement," Ruby said quietly, her eyes finally focusing on Yang's face. Without hesitation, Yang leaned forward and wrapped her arms hard around Ruby, squeezing her.

"Don't you ever do that again," she said, pulling back when she felt Ruby weakly tapping her back for air. She could feel tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"No guarantees," Ruby answered. She smiled before looking up at "Grey". Her eyes widened for a moment as she took them in. A gleam appeared in her eye when she spotted their weapon, but she quickly lost it.

"Thank you," she said, a little more loudly, "for saving me."

"You're quite welcome, young lady," they replied politely, nodding.

"You and Lop didn't leave any broncos for us?" a disappointed voice drawled. "Come on, bot, that's hardly fa-oh!"

Yang looked towards the source of the voice and was somewhat surprised to be looking at a Human being. His outfit strongly resembled that of a Vacuan cowboy with the exceptions of the heavy trench coat, the pair of sunglasses perched on his hat, and the biomask over his face. Also, one of the two bandoliers across his chest didn't appear to be holding bullets, but some kind of rod.

The hair that spilled out from beneath his wide-brim hat was as black as Blake's, his bangs long enough to conceal his forest green eyes. A small horizontal scar sat just beneath his left eye giving him something of a roguish look.

Yang noticed that she had to squint to see his eyes; his bangs weren't that long, his eyes were just, well, smaller than normal. They weren't beady like the insect man's, but the size difference was noticeable. And now that she was looking, she could see that his nose and mouth were bigger than normal, not by much, but still there.

The boy had cut himself off upon noticing her. The look he was giving her was both appraising and admiring without being lecherous or undressing her. "Hello," he said, having forgotten about complaining to the "Bot".

"I'm Tycho," he continued, tipping his hat. "Tycho Marson, Miss…?"

"Yang," she replied. "Yang Xiao Long."

"Holy shit man, it is cold out here! Can we please go back ins-"

The owner of the third voice interrupted before either of them could say anything else, coming up behind Tycho with two more following right behind him.

Like Tycho and the insect man, this guy was also wearing a biomask over his face, and like the insect man, he was also wasn't human. Underneath his mask, this one looked strongly like a chameleon. His eyes were mounted on little turrets instead of eye sockets, and the face and head were flattened like the insect man's. His scales were light blue in color, and he too wore armor, though the style was more utilitarian than reptilian. A tail trailed along behind him, which was almost stepped on by his followers.

The last two were clad completely in black armor with red accents, very militaristic in design. One of them was human-shaped, while the other was taller, also possessed a tail, and a second pair of arms, all of which sported metallic, razor-sharp claws on the tips. The undersides of their arms were, the upper ones in the case of the taller one, had weapons attached. On the left sides of their breastplates were a symbol: A red hexagon with a black stripe right down the middle with a gold bird, some kind of raptor, in the center.

The most unnerving part were the faceplates. They were designed to look like skulls. Human skulls.

"So, we're going to wait outside for the local authorities to arrive?" the shorter, armored one said, the distorted voice holding a feminine note. "At least you were right, Rekaxir. The inhabitants definitely appear to be Human." She sounded pleased.

"Excuse me?"

Yang glanced over to Blake, who was giving the new speaker the stink eye. Before anyone could say anything more, there was a loud groan to the side.

Yang could feel Ruby stiffen in her arms as they both glanced in the same direction. Salem had regrown her head and her hands, and was in the process of getting back up. A black sphere appeared at the end of her hand.

Something _zinged_ through the air and struck her hand, making her cry out and grab her hand with the other one. Another _zing_ and she screamed, jerking that hand.

Yang swiveled her head around to find Tycho dual-wielding a brace of pistols, both of them large and with glowing, purple components. Without cocking a hammer, he fired again and again. _Zings_ filled the air along with Salem's screams as her joints were targeted. Wrists, elbows, shoulders, ankles, knees, and hips; each were hit with unerring accuracy and a brutal efficiency.

"Goddess!" screamed Tyrian, jumped to his feet, only to be thrown back when Grey's weapon went off again, breaking his Aura. Cinder started forward, freezing when the other five newcomers brought their weapons up. The lizard had a gun even stranger than the one Ruby's rescuer used, while the armored ones simply raised their right arms (upper right for the tall one), allowing their weapons to activate and target her.

"How in the Hell is he, or any of them, even alive?" the lizard man asked, both eye turrets focused on Tyrian. "I'm not getting a forcefield generator reading off of any of them."

"Here's a better question," Tycho said, cocking back the hammer on his right pistol, an expression of frustration coupled with a morbid fascination on his face. "What in the blue blazes is she?" he demanded

"That's Salem," Weiss said, quickly retrieving Myrtlenaster. "She can't be killed, and she's the master of the Grimm."

Tycho paused, his finger on the trigger, an eyebrow quirked upward.

"The Hell's a Grimm?" he asked.

Holy shit, this was just like initiation, when one thing after another just kept happening, only much worse. First, it was Mantle losing its heating, the Grimm attacking, Ironwood turning on them, fighting the AceOps, and then escaping on yet another stolen manta. Then they had fought Salem and her cronies, been restrained and tortured, almost been forced to watch Salem gouge out Ruby's eyes, and now they were being asked perhaps the most nonsensical question that anyone could ask. If she thought that yelling for things to stop would work, she would have.

With a roar, a black shape descended from the sky, landing between them and Salem, effectively shielding her. The first thing about it was the huge pair of black wings jutting up from its back. The second thing was that they were attached to a Beringel. The ape-like Grimm stood on its short hind legs, thumped its chest in challenge, and roared at them all.

With a yell, Tycho aimed his pistol and fired, the _zing_ replaced by a much louder _ZAM_ and the "projectile" actually visible as a purple bolt of light. The Beringel's head jerked backwards as the bolt struck it right between the eyes, a new hole showing where the shot had drilled its way through the new Grimm's head. It fell backwards, crashing at Salem's feet before dissolving.

"That was a Grimm," Ruby said.

And then all Hell broke loose.

The roars of more Beringels sounded from above, prompting them all to look up. The horde of Grimm that had been escorting the giant whale Grimm had finally caught up to them, consisting not only more of the winged Beringels, but Manticores, Sphinxes, and Teryxes further towards the rear.

"Jawahir, Hask," Grey barked, "keep the Witch and the Apprentice off our backs. Everyone else," they turned and brought their weapon to bear on the descending Grimm, "focus on the creatures!"

...They seriously did not know what Grimm were, did they?

Yang stowed that thought and its possible implications for later as she and Ruby got to their feet in readiness, her sister quickly grabbing her weapon. She cocked Ember Celia, ejecting the spent shells before tossing two ammo belts into the air and catching them right in her gauntlets. Ruby ejected the clip from Crescent Rose, sticking a fresh one in and cocking the action.

Glancing back to the others, she was glad to see that they had reacquired their weapons and were prepared to face the oncoming horde. Frankly, she didn't see a way for them to win without assistance from Atlas, but their ride was downed and the Grimm would catch up to them before they got to Mantle's defensive wall. All they could do was hold out until help arrived.

Between traveling across East Sanus, most of Mistral, and the training at Atlas Academy, they had all progressed further since their time at Beacon, and at a much quicker pace. Had everything not gone to shit, they were likely at the point they would have been had they been able to graduate from Beacon. Under these circumstances, that was a really good thing.

Good news: Emerald, Mercury, and Tyrian's Auras were broken, Neo looked about ready to bolt, Hazel probably had a hike ahead of him before he could get back in the fight, and the two armored individuals had suddenly shot forward, the taller one towards Salem, the other towards Cinder. Bad news: The Grimm were upon them.

A loud humming filled the air, prompting Yang to look up. Descending from Atlas was their airship fleet, each ship flanked by mantas. Without preamble, the airships opened fire into the Grimm horde with their laser cannons, vaporizing each and every one that got in their way. At the same time, the mantas unloaded the contents of their rocket pods into the main body of the Grimm; those that were obliterated by the missiles were struck by shrapnel and began crashing to the ground before disintegrating.

Reinvigorated by the sight of Atlas' collective firepower being focused on the Grimm horde, Yang and the others let out a collective whoop before doubling down on their targets. Their new allies stared upward at the Atlesian airfleet unleashing its full firepower before turning their attention back on the Grimm.

Time lost its meaning as adrenaline flooded her bloodstream, both speeding up and slowing down. Yang absorbed the strikes of the Beringel's fists, hoping to build a good charge of kinetic energy before her Aura gave out. Ruby was zipping all around, firing off Crescent Rose at distant Grimm and slashing through those that got within reach. Blake was dodging around the battlefield, her shadow clones taking blows meant for her, allowing her to shoot or slash through the Grimm as they attempted to re-target her. Weiss had summoned her Arma Gigas, using it to keep the Grimm off her back while she launched Dust attacks, jumped in to stab weak spots, and aid the others with her glyphs.

Penny was staying on the ground, leaping around with aid from her thruster boots, firing bursts of ice from her hands, Floating Array spinning around like a saw one moment and then breaking up to form multiple energy blasters. Nora was slamming Magnhild into any Grimm that got too close, converting it into its grenade launcher mode to fire at clusters of Grimm. Ren was slashing with Stormflowers' blades at the weak spots of near Grimm and keeping them off with gunfire, his Semblance utilized to hide the emotional signatures of his comrades, hiding them long enough from the Grimm to give them an edge. Jaune was blocking the Grimm's strike and cutting them to ribbons with Crocea Mors, while aiding the others by buffing their semblances whenever he got the chance.

As for the newcomers, most of them were doing great.

Grey was fast, appearing to dodge strikes before they had even started, and strong, hefting that huge, strange weapon like it was made of cardboard. The best part was that their weapon could one-shot Grimm like no one's business if placed right. And they never missed.

The insect man was having a ball. They had their other blocky sword out, and were dual-wielding them, slicing Grimm apart left and right like they were made of styrofoam with an enthusiasm for it that matched Nora's. Like Grey, they were fast and even stronger. Right before Yang's eyes, they hurled a sword and impaled a Sphinx right through the head before leaping right at a Manticore, pulling back a fist in midair, and then punching the Grimm right in the face. Its bone mask shattered and the Grimm slumped to the ground, its snake tail collapsing as the whole organism died. With a sound that strongly resembled a laugh, the insect man shot back to the Sphinx and ripped their sword out of its face as it began disintegrating.

The shorter of the armored pair were facing off against Cinder and Neo. They were employing every move and trick they had to keep from getting hit by the projectiles their weapons spit out. Any Grimm that got in the way were shredded or blown to pieces. Along with dishing out the punishment like there was no tomorrow, they could take it as well. Neo's knife and Cinder's swords didn't appear to even dent their armor and it was impervious to the fireballs that the Fall Maiden liked to throw; the only thing that Cinder had that came close to damaging the suit were her exploding arrows. Those didn't do much, plus her opponent didn't give her many opportunities to make and draw her bow.

The taller one was focused completely on Salem, dodging or taking her magic/Grimm attacks while giving her regenerative abilities a workout. Oddly, they only used their weapons for keeping the Grimm off of their back. For Salem, they used the razor-sharp claws on their four hands to send blood spattering across the tundra, striking at her again and again with a ferocity that was almost Grimm-like.

The last two guys however, Tycho and the lizard man, were having issues. For some reasons, their weapons didn't seem to be doing much against the Grimm. The two of them were barely surviving thanks to their insane reflexes (something these people all seemed to have); the lizard man had a number of defensive measures (a force field and miniaturized drones which flew directly into the Grimm before blowing up) to help him, while Tycho was gesturing with his hands, sending shards of ice to get in the Grimm's eyes, along with deflecting or blocking their strikes. Additionally, he would jump and then basically float to a safe distance.

Some kind of telekinesis Semblance? But he didn't appear to have or act like he had Aura.

"Tycho!" Grey suddenly yelled. "Garma says to quit fucking around and start cocking your guns!"

"Alright," Tycho yelled back. "Hold your horses, I only have so many caps, you know."

The rapid-fire _zings_ were replaced by the louder, more paced _ZAMs_ , and the Grimm began dropping around him.

"Rekaxir!" Grey began again. "You and the orange-haired girl take Hask's place at fighting the Witch!"

"Which orange-haired girl?" the lizard man, "Rekaxir", yelled back.

"The flying one that's shooting ice from her hands!" Grey answered, ducking a Manticore's snake tail and responding by shooting the Grimm right under its tail.

Penny looked surprised at being told what to do by the stranger, but quickly nodded. "Acknowledged!" she said before jetting back towards Salem.

"I didn't sign up for this Wizard of Oz goolantha-shit!" Rekaxir exclaimed, but started after Penny anyway. "This witch-bitch better melt too!"

"Hask" slashed Salem from stomach to throat with one last undercut before jumping away and going at some Grimm. The Witch, as Grey so accurately called her, had enough time to heal the gaping wound in her abdomen before Rekaxir and Penny were on her. For some reason, Rekaxir's weapon was ineffective against Grimm but could damage Salem. Why would someone have such a weak weapon, that it could only hurt someone without an Aura?

"I need to reload!" Tycho yelled. "Someone cover me!"

Making a split decision, Yang dashed up and opened fire on a Teryx flying down behind him. The Grimm screeched as its wings gave out, alerting Tycho who jumped out of the way. The Grimm hit the ground and when it tried to get back up, Yang tapped into her Semblance and her stored energy. Her hair blazed white, her eyes turned a burning red, and between the burst of force from the activation and the finishing punch she threw, the Teryx was finished.

"Hell's bells." Yang glanced down to find Tycho staring up at her, awe written all over his face. When he realized that he was staring, he quickly focused on his pistols, ejecting the spent casings from the cylinders and some kind of clip from along the barrels. He arched his brows and focused on the bandoliers over his chest. About a dozen casings and two clips jumped from their respective bandoliers and into the cylinders and ports of the guns.

"Thanks," he said, getting to his feet with a jolt from the ground.

"No problem," Yang replied, cocking Ember Celia. "Now let's kill some Grimm."

Tycho grinned at her before cocking his pistols. "Stole the words right out of my mouth."

When it came to fighting, the two of them were very different without hurting each other's style. Yang preferred to get close in and soak in damage and deal it back out. Tycho seemed to like picking the Grimm off before they got close and dodging their attacks by the barest of margins.

"Enough of this!" Salem's voice broke out as her voice box regenerated. She screamed again, only this time it wasn't a shriek of blind rage. There were tones and inflections within the unholy sound, almost like a chorus of Banshees, if that particular breed of Grimm had been capable of harmonizing.

Without warning, the Grimm broke off their attacks and rushed towards Salem. A trio of Beringels landed between Salem and her attackers, forcing Penny and Rekaxir to jump back and regroup. A Manticore landed right behind Salem, lowering a wing to the ground and allowing her to climb up and mount it like a horse. A line of Beringels quickly formed, separating them and the newcomers from Salem and her followers as more Manticores and Sphinxes descended.

"Salem's got the Lamp!" Jaune yelled as Emerald and Mercury both got on the same Sphinx, Cinder mounted another Manticore, Tyrian on another Sphinx, and Neo on the only Teryx. "Don't let her get away!" He began buffing Weiss, allowing her to Summon more Grimm and generate bigger glyphs.

Almost as one, RWBY, JNR, and Penny concentrated their fire on Salem, quickly followed by the newcomers. The Beringels and other Grimm threw themselves into the line of fire, sacrificing themselves to protect Salem and her cronie from the onslaught of projectiles.

Yang had never seen Grimm act like this. Usually they were like monstrous animals with only the singular purpose of killing Humans and Faunus uniting them. With Salem commanding them, they were acting more like an army than a mob of freaks and nightmares. It was disorienting, and disturbing.

"You can try to take the Lamp back!" Salem's voice magically boomed out from behind the ascending cloud of Grimm particles. "Or you can save your friends!"

The cloud quickly shot up into the sky, the dying Grimm dissipating enough for the individual mounts to be spotted, but too far away for them to be accurately shot down. To Yang's surprise, Grey continued to fire, forcing the Grimm to continue sacrificing themselves.

Part of one of the Grimm they struck didn't disintegrate as it fell. As it neared the ground, Yang realized that it was that little twerp, Neo. Like Hazel, she didn't utter a sound as she rushed through the air. If there had been any doubt that she wasn't mute, it was now gone.

With a crash of shattering glass, she landed right on the "projectile", which Yang was starting to think wasn't just that. Pieces of brown, pink, and white glass slid down the sides to tinkle and break further on the ground.

"What." Tycho said, he and the other newcomers staring at the spot where Neo's insanely powerful Semblance had once again saved her.

"Look!" Nora yelled, pointing.

Yang turned and spotted the downed manta. The Grimm horde was mostly grouping around Salem to protect her from Grey and the Atlesian airfleet's continued fire, but part of them were branching out like a grotesque limb, headed for the manta's crash site.

"Father!" Penny cried.

"Maria!" Ruby cried. "We've got to help them!"

"I assume that the Lamp is somehow important and that we shouldn't let them escape with it?" Grey said, pausing in shooting to look at Ruby as they began to reload their weapon.

"It is, and we shouldn't," Ruby answered, "but I can't let them die. Please help us?"

"In for a gram, in for a kilogram, Dell," Tycho said, looking at Grey-no, Dell- pointedly.

Dell shrugged. "Very well," they responded, shouldering the rifle. "Little late to negotiate terms anyway."

"Thank you!" Ruby cried. She shot over to Penny, hooked an arm around her and then repeated the Petal Burst/Thrusters combo that they had done earlier, shooting towards the manta at maximum speed.

"My word," Dell said. "Hask, Jawahir, Lop'dolf, go after them. I'll snipe any that get too close."

"Leave some for us!" the insect exclaimed, flourishing their blades. "These Grimm are a true delight to face in combat."

"Oh shut it, bug," the shorter armorer said before bounding after Ruby and Penny in huge strides, the taller armorer right behind them. The insect man made an offended noise before following after with some huge leaps of their own.

"Uh, Dell," Rekaxir said, pointing up. Yang followed his finger (could it truly be called that?) and couldn't help but swallow when she saw the main body of Grimm streaming right towards them, signaling that Salem and Co. were likely safe. It didn't help that the ground-borne Grimm were coming in sight, Centinels, Sabyrs, and Megoliaths rushing across the tundra towards them to reinforce their flying brethren.

Yang was suddenly painfully aware of how low on ammo she was. Glancing around at the others, she noticed the worried looks on those who depended on ammunition to use their weapons. Even if their ammo was fully replenished, it didn't look like they would be walking away from this one, not with the main body of this Grimm horde coming right at them.

Also, her Semblance had run out of energy. Her blazing white hair died down back to blonde, and she knew that her eyes were no longer bright crimson, but lilac.

"I-I don't think we can win this," Blake said, staring at the Grimm horde, Gambol Shroud shaking in her hands. Swallowing, she turned to Yang. "Yang, there's something I need to say to you-" she began.

"No need for last minute confessions," Dell interrupted, smiling. "Garma just got done recalibrating the _Mandalorian_ 's autocannons. I strongly advise covering your ears."

Before Yang or anyone could ask what they meant by that, a loud whirring noise broke out from the ship (that's what it had to be). At intervals along the top and the sides of the ship, large hatches opened up, allowing machinery to emerge from within. Yang found herself and the others looking at the biggest machine guns that they had ever seen. They were easily larger than even Coco Adel's Gianduja, and were quickly orienting themselves to aim at the oncoming Grimm, both those in the air and on the ground.

"Oh hell yeah!" Tycho cheered. "Eat tungsten, you ugly f-"

Tycho's taunt was abruptly cut off by the roaring cacophony of every single one of the guns going off at once, forcing everyone to cover their ears. It sounded like someone had lined up a row of those old-fashioned cannons and was lighting them off one after another in quick succession. "Autocannons" indeed!

Tracer rounds flashed across the sky and over the ground, Grimm getting shredded by the dozens and then hundreds as the guns swept over the horde, the huge rounds ripping through the front line of Grimm and into the ones behind them. A huge black cloud of Grimm particles began to form as their bodies hit the ground and began disintegrating. Never had any of them imagined witnessing a weapon of such destructive power unleashed on the Grimm. This wasn't a battle anymore; it had become an extermination.

Yang almost felt sorry for the Grimm. Almost. Between these roided-up machine guns of the crashed ship, the laser cannons of the airships, and the missiles of the mantas, the biggest Grimm horde in recorded history was about to become history.

After what was probably a minute but felt more like an hour, the only Grimm that remained were the ones smart enough to have turned back when it became apparent that they couldn't stand up to this new weapon. The autocannons quit firing and their smoking barrels slowly whirred to a halt.

Yang cautiously removed her hands from her ears, which were ringing anyway. She couldn't quite believe what she had just witnessed: The biggest Grimm horde she had ever seen, maybe the biggest one ever seen, reduced to absolutely nothing in the space of a mere minute. After witnessing Uncle Qrow and Raven's shapeshifting abilities, a Maiden's power, and then the regenerative magic of Salem, something like this shouldn't phase her, but it did.

"What was that?!" Nora yelled, screwing one finger around in her ear. "That was...I mean...all those Grimm...and, and...oh my gods!" she finally finished.

For the first time, Nora had no real words.

"Yang?" Blake was rubbing at her Human ears. "I can't hear anything with these ears." Of course she would protect her more sensitive feline ones.

"Jaune, get over here?" Yang called, grasping Blake's shoulders.

"What was that?" Ren asked, a little more loudly than usual.

"Stormfire Autocannons," Dell answered, raising their voice to be heard. "Civilian grade, of course, but still effective. Your friends should be with us shortly," they added, shouldering their rifle and taking aim.

They were right. All around the downed manta, Ruby, Penny, and their new allies were massacring the Grimm. Between Ruby's speed, Penny's new Maiden powers, the weapons of Hask, Jawahir, and Lop'dolf, and Dell's added sniping, these stragglers were quickly cleaned up.

"Why didn't you just start off with those?" Jaune snapped as he began strengthening Blake's Aura to heal her ears.

"Because they weren't calibrated to recognize these Grimm, as you call them, as targets," a new voice said, sounding gurgling and wet while still being understandable.

Yang turned and had to bite back a yelp as she caught sight of the newest newcomer, gasps from her friends accompanying her surprise.

This one was huge, easily as twice as tall as a man, and looking very much like a fusion of one and an octopus or something similar. Instead of arms and legs, they had actual tentacles extending out from beneath their clothing, allowing them to gracefully make their way over the rim and down towards them. The lower half of their "face" had tentacles sprouting from it as well, resembling a beard. Funnily enough, the tentacles were colored peach while the rest of their skin was an oily black.

"Also, the Grimm were much slower and closer than the usual targets for an autocannon," they added, coming to a stop and looking down at them. It raised an eyebrow despite not possessing any. Yang couldn't help but jump at seeing such a familiar gesture being replicated by such an unfamiliar face.

In the awkward silence that prevailed, Ruby and Penny returned with their new allies, Maria and Professor Polendina (including his chair nonetheless!) on the insect man's shoulders, thankfully looking none the worse for wear, but just as startled as they were at the newcomers.

"Thank you," Weiss piped up, curtseying out of habit, "for saving us and Mantle from Salem and her Grimm. We couldn't have done it without you and your weapons."

"You're quite welcome," the squid man said, bobbing their head in a bow. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Garma, owner and captain of the _Mandalorian_." They waved an arm tentacle behind them, confirming that it was indeed a ship. "Not to sound like a cliche, but can you take us to your leader or leaders? Our coming here was quite an accident, and we need to make it clear that we are not hostiles."

Before any of them could say anything to that, the rumble of approaching aircraft became apparent. Looking up and back towards Atlas, they saw the mantas and airships approaching, becoming bigger with each passing moment. With the Grimm eliminated, the weapons that had aided them, and supplanted them if she was being honest, were now of great interest.

"Guys," Jaune said, worry in his voice. "We didn't get back the Lamp, and we didn't take down Salem; I don't think Ironwood is going to be in a forgiving mood."

"Oh," Ruby blanched. "Shit. I'm sorry," she said, turning to the newcomers, "but we need to get out of here before the military arrives."

"Hold up," the shorter armorer demanded, striding forward. "What about us? If your own military is after you, what are they going to do to us?"

"I'm sure the General isn't going to do anything rash when it comes to you," Weiss said. "Your ship just wiped out the biggest Grimm horde in recorded history, so he should be thankful for that. But we're currently on his bad side and he has arrest warrants, unjust ones I might add, out for us."

"Of course," Tycho said with a disgusted tone. "We crash on a pre-FTL planet and the local ruler is a dictatorial asshat."

"Tycho," Dell rebuked, "not now. There's an intact craft right over there." They pointed, and there was the manta that Cinder and Neo had hijacked, engines still running. "I suggest availing yourselves of that before your military arrives."

"Thank you," Ruby said, "take care, and good luck."

The insect man jumped forward, landing in front of the manta and carefully letting down Maria and Professor Polendina before jumping back. Yang's earlier comparison to a grasshopper wasn't too far off, she guessed.

"Good luck, and happy trails to you as well," Tycho called out to them as they hurried to the manta. Yang turned back and gave a quick wave before stepping on the ship.

Maria was already in the pilot's chair. The moment everyone was onboard, she gunned the engine and took off, flying low and back over Mantle, away from the crash site of the _Mandalorian_.

Yang glanced out a window, watching as the strange ship and the row of even stranger figures in front of it grew smaller before disappearing. She wondered if she would ever see any of them again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we are! I hope that you all enjoyed the initial meetings of my original characters with those of RWBY. I was originally planning on this being "The Baker's Dozen", but I think that keeping track of twelve OCs along with the RWBY characters would be even harder than the seven I decided to go with. As for the other OCs, I decided to change their roles and keep them for later. Believe me, these won't be the only offworlders that come to Remnant.
> 
> So, initial thoughts on my OCs? First impressions are important, both to the characters they interact with, and to those reading this story. For now, I'm going to avoid writing from their POVs until their personalities are firmly established.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Have a good day, everyone, and happy writing!


	3. Awkward Conversations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening, fans of RWBY and Stellaris alike! I hope that the last two chapters have proven enjoyable.
> 
> Quick little note: I was going over some stuff and I remembered my liking for this one thing that RWBY fanfic writers like to do. They make Monty Oum out to be a god figure in Remnant, and frankly, I always liked that. Monty Oum is no god, but as the creator of RWBY, and the fact that "Oum" does sound like it could be the name of a deity, I decided to incorporate that into my RWBY fics.
> 
> As Ruby and Yang are the only characters to have said "Oh My God" in the show, it means that they possibly grew up with a monotheistic religion. When I was writing the first chapter of The Sapients Seven, I had forgotten completely about Monty Oum and used the name "Jerrika", which I came up with on the spot. After posting this chapter, I'll be going back to chapter one and fixing that mistake. I believe that this will be a better thing to do for this story.
> 
> To those wondering about the status of Oscar/Ozpin and Salem: Oscar is still in the slums of Mantle, in the crater beneath Atlas. He will be picked up by RWBY and Maria in their new manta. Meanwhile, Salem is on the run, her magnificent horde having been slaughtered by strange interlopers. Cinder's new confederate, Neo, has gone missing, and Dr. Watts is imprisoned in Atlas. At the very least, she has the Relic of Knowledge now, and one question now burning into her brain...
> 
> That's for later however. Now we see how Atlas, on its way to metamorphosis into something far darker, deals with their strange, new saviors.
> 
> Edit as of 2/17/2021: Altered species' name to account for cybernetics.
> 
> Re-edit as of 3/5/2021: Added Atlesian airfleet action for realism.

**Awkward Conversations**

Marrow Amin winced and rubbed his head. He had been the first of the Ace Operatives to recover from the fight with Team RWBY, but he was still sore. Getting hit by four fireballs at once could do that to a person. The others were still waiting for their Auras to regenerate. They would be done shortly, but for now, he was the only Ace Operative that was combat ready.

He winced again as those two words appeared in his head and he shook it to be rid of them. Penny's acquisition of the Winter Maiden powers and her defection had been surprises, the latter far less pleasant than the former. The General had issued an arrest warrant for her as well, making her the top priority over the others.

Marrow glanced over at General Ironwood, who was standing over the pilot's chair. He had done and said nothing for a long moment before ordering them to the infirmary. His eyes had been completely blank, his voice without tone or inflection, the signs that his Semblance, Mettle, was active. Right now, the General's mind was essentially a computer, intent on completing whatever goal he had set for himself.

The General glanced right at him, and Marrow quickly averted his eyes. Whatever that goal was, not even seeing that monstrous whale Grimm die had been enough to fulfill it. He didn't know which was worse, seeing those cold, blank eyes, or seeing them filled with anger or disappointment.

As for the whale, Marrow had seen the footage himself. It had felt surreal, seeing that huge Grimm emerge from a thundercloud with crimson lightning, only to be struck down by some kind of meteor and crash down just outside of Mantle.

However, Marrow had seen firsthand from Atlas the destruction of the biggest Grimm horde in recorded history. The hybrid offspring of a minigun and a cannon had utterly annihilated the Grimm, spitting hundreds of rounds into them within a minute, turning the eastern sky black with the particles from their disintegrating bodies. Between this new weapon and the combined firepower of the Atlesian military, it hadn't been a battle; it had been an extermination, clean and simple.

Whatever, or whoever, was responsible for that weapon had been at the site of the whale's crashing. If they were a friend, Marrow would be more than happy to shake their hand.

If they weren't….

Marrow tried not to think about what would happen if they weren't.

As they approached the site, Marrow could make out the huge trench that the whale Grimm had carved out before it had slowed to a stop and disintegrated. Perched on the rim of the trench was a large object. Maybe it was the meteor that had hit the Grimm?

"Pilot, put us down in front of that object," Ironwood commanded, pointing.

As the pilot acquiesced and they began to descend, Marrow noticed that there seemed to be a line of people standing in front of the object. Already a bunch of civilians were sticking their noses where they had no business being. With any luck, they'd come quietly. With the luck they'd been having though, that likely wouldn't be the case.

As they approached, Marrow got up from his seat and went over to the door, preparing to disembark. With barely a bump, the manta came to a landing, and the doors opened. Marrow jumped out, Fetch in hand, followed by Ironwood and Atlesian troops.

The yelling of orders that usually came with troops being deployed quickly gained an air of confusion and panic, and Marrow soon saw why: Those people weren't civilians.

The tallest of the seven was easily twice as tall as man, and they weren't even Human or Faunus. Instead of arms and legs, they had tentacles, even on their face. Two of them were decked out in black armor, with faceplates like Human skulls; the larger of the two had four arms and a tail. The second tallest one appeared to be some kind of insect and had two swords drawn, each worthy of a Huntsman. Another strongly resembled a lizard, like a chameleon. One that he took for a moment to be Human proved that wrong upon closer inspection; their skin was too grey.

Only one appeared to be Human, and he was dressed up like he was a Vacuan cowboy. Maybe he was a Shade student?

With the exceptions of the tentacled one, the grey one, and those in armor, they were all wearing some kind of transparent masks with seals around their faces. Some kind of biomask, probably.

Marrow glanced past them and froze as he finally got a good look at the "meteor". That wasn't some space rock; that was a ship. Even with the burn marks and the completely destroyed rear, Marrow could see the strong resemblance with the spaceships in those silly comic books and cartoons he had enjoyed as a kid. This ship though, had some monstrously-huge guns poking out of hatches all along its exposed hull. They were all pointed out towards the tundra, but that could change.

At least they now knew who had been responsible for helping the Atlesian military in wiping out the Grimm horde.

The strangers were on guard. With the exception of the big, tentacled one, they all had weapons out, but so far none were pointed in their direction. Marrow didn't have to look to know that the Atlesian soldiers and robots had their own weapons at the ready. The cowboy had chosen the right outfit for the occasion; this was starting to look like some kind of standoff.

General Ironwood strode out ahead of them and stood in front of his men. Marrow wondered how much of the General's past determination and steadfastness was actually his and how much was because of Mettle.

"Can you understand me?" the General barked in Common.

"Yes," the tentacled one replied, their voice gurgling and wet. "We can understand you perfectly."

"You are the leader here?" the General asked, directing his attention to the speaker now.

The tentacled one paused for a moment before continuing. "As I am the owner and captain of the _Mandalorian_ , I believe that would make me the leader in this situation."

The lizard brought up a hand(?) and coughed into it. Marrow heard him(?) say "co-owner" between coughs. The grey one and the cowboy both him a look, and he clammed up.

"Would that be the _Mandalorian_?" The General didn't trip up over the strange word as he pointed back at the ship.

"Yes," the tentacled one answered.

"Is the _Mandalorian_ a spaceship?" The General went straight for the heart of the matter.

There was another long pause before the creature responded.

"Yes."

Oh...boy. This was huge, somewhere around the size of the Grimm having a master and the Maidens and Relics being real. Part of Marrow wished that this was some kind of prank, but no. Those guns had to be real, therefore the ship had to be real, and these...people had to be real as well.

With only a moment of hesitation, the General turned and began issuing orders, telling the men to form a perimeter around the ship, to get building supplies there on the double, and to check the wall for any witnesses. If there were any, they were to be detained and their scrolls confiscated.

As the troops hurried to carry out his orders, the General turned back to the...might as well admit it...aliens.

"You're going to have to come with us," he said.

"And why would we do that?" the grey one asked, shifting. Marrow's grip on Fetch increased.

"I have questions for you that need answering," Ironwood snapped. "Now lay down your weapons and surrender yourselves."

They all tensed up, with the exception of the tentacled one. They raised their eyebrows, or the parts of their face that strongly resembled eyebrows and had the same function, before raising a tentacle and cracking it like a whip.

The guns on the ship instantly swiveled around and focused on the General, Marrow himself, and the troops. There were panicked yells and guns were leveled on the aliens, who aimed their own weapons back. Marrow did the same purely on instinct, even as his mind screamed at him not to. He didn't want to see what any of those weapons could do to a Human, or a Faunus.

"Not one of us is going anywhere," the tentacled one said firmly. "Not without insurance."

The insanely tense moment was broken by the General raising a hand, his good one of course.

"If I leave one of my men with you, will one of your people come with me?" he intoned. "I give my word that no harm will come to them."

The tentacled one and their compatriots glanced at each other and softly gave their opinions. Marrow could only hear bits and pieces of their quick conversation, but it sounded like they were amenable to the proposition.

Finally, the tentacled one turned back to Ironwood and nodded. "We find your offer to be acceptable. Which of your troops will you leave with us?" The guns on the ship returned to scanning over the tundra, and both sides lowered their weapons.

"This is Marrow Amin, one of the Ace Operatives," Ironwood said to the strangers, gesturing at him. He could only stare at the General in surprise and some amount of disbelief.

"He is one of my most valued people, and I won't take kindly to any harm that befalls."

"The same goes for any of us, pilgrim," the cowboy said, looking the general right in the eye.

"Are you volunteering to represent your group?" the General countered, giving the kid a steely look.

Before the kid could answer, the shorter of the armored pair spoke up in a distorted voice. "No!" They made an odd sound, which Marrow realized was them clearing their throat. "I'll go," they continued, stepping forward.

"After you lose the armor," the General replied.

The armorer stopped and hesitated. To Marrow's surprise, the armor opened up from the front, allowing its wearer to step out without any difficulty. As soon as they were clear, the suit closed shut behind them.

The woman, who appeared to be Human, shivered for a moment before making a visible effort to stop and succeeding. She turned and said something, and the armor appeared to power down. Marrow realized that she had just spoken in a language he had never heard before; a chill went down his spine at the thought. It made sense, but it was still strange.

"He'd better lose that iron of his," the cowboy said, pointing at Fetch. "Seeing as we want this little exchange to be fair and all."

The General turned to Marrow and held out his good hand for Fetch. Shaking off the unease he felt, Marrow handed it to him. He and the woman walked to the other side. He glanced over at her when they passed.

She was very striking. Her skin was dark, darker than his. Her hair was curly and a deep red color. Her eyes were heterochromatic: The left one was ocean blue, while the right one was amber. Her clothes currently consisted of what looked like a high-tech, form-fitting bodysuit with a biomask over her face.

He found that she was looking at him too as they passed. Her eyes were quietly intense, sizing him up like an opponent, face screwing in thought as she calculated how much of a threat he was. They passed each other before he could determine her stance about him.

When he arrived at the opposite end of the divide that the Atlesian military and the strangers had created between them, he turned back. The woman had arrived at Ironwood's side and was looking back at her people.

"We'll be back shortly," Ironwood said. He nodded to Marrow (that was a promise) before turning and beckoning for the woman to follow him. He walked back to the manta with her in tow. They both got on and then the aircraft lifted off and flew back to Atlas.

Marrow watched it until it disappeared against the silver and grey of Atlas before turning back to the strangers. He found that they were all looking at him, their expressions (at least on the ones with familiar faces) a mixture of suspicion, curiosity, and caution. He swallowed and stood to attention in front of them.

"Operative Marrow Amin, of the Atlesian Military, at your service," he said, hoping that his tail didn't do anything embarrassing.

The taller armorer took a step towards him. Marrow forced himself not to take a step back at the sight of the advancing figure. Lines appeared on their skull-shaped faceplate before the whole separated into multiple pieces and retracted from the face.

Marrow found himself looking on alien visage from behind the transparent material of their biomask. Four, beady black eyes glared at him from a dark green face. Instead of hair on their head, there was a crest-like structure that was light green. There was a nose, but it was broad and flat on their face. The mouth had no lips and was open to reveal two rows of thick, razor-sharp teeth.

A feminine voice, firm, clear, and synthetic, began speaking. Beneath it, he could hear a faint humming, like something was vibrating along with the words he was hearing. Some lizards communicated with vibrations, right?

"Hask'Ekalim, formerly of the Commonwealth 229th Xeno Janissaries," they said. The synthetic voice must be the product of some kind of translator. "If they hurt her, I hurt you." They clicked all four sets of claws together in a low-key threat. "First."

Marrow swallowed again and turned away from the threatening gaze of the creature before him.

"I'm sorry for that, Ekalim is very protective of Mina." Marrow turned to find the grey one addressing him, their androgynous face set in a expression one of a formal welcoming.

"Mina?" he asked.

"Yes," the grey one confirmed. "Mina Jawahir, the woman who went with your commanding officer, is Ekalim's partner. She has a great deal of loyalty to her."

"Loyalty like a dog's," the cowboy muttered. Marrow winced, some insults floating up from the depths of his memory. With a snarl, Ekalim turned towards him.

"I am no dog, Martian," she(?!) said, a growl building in her throat. "And she is a better partner to me than you are to Qubot."

"Them's fightin' words, Tzynn," Martian said, looking the growling lizard right in the eye, ignoring the fact that she was a head taller than he was.

"Tycho, Ekalim, not in front of our guest," the grey one said scoldingly. They both glanced at them, then back at each other before backing off.

"My apologies for that," the grey one continued. "Introductions should come first: My name is Dell Qubot, of Mars. This young man," they gestured to the cowboy, "is Tycho Marson, also of Mars."

Tycho tipped his hat to Marrow. "Operative," he said simply.

Now that he was getting a good look at Tycho's face, Marrow noticed some oddities. His eyes were smaller than normal, and his mouth and nose were also bigger. Not only that, but his hand seemed to have an extra digit on it, right between the thumb and forefinger both in location and in function. He had the same thing on his other hand.

Now that he thought of it, the woman's eyes had been small as well.

By the Brothers, Marrow hadn't thought that an alien could resemble a Human to that extent. Even as a kid, he had figured that the humanoid aliens in _Space Quest_ weren't realistic. It looked like he was halfway right.

"This other young male is Rekaxir Xiza," Dell gestured to the chameleon alien. "He's a Trans-Lok, if you were wondering."

"Pleased to meet you," the blue-scaled "Trans-Lok" said, waving a hand(?) at Marrow. "Quick question: What are you using to hold your city up?" Marrow noticed that one eye was pointed at him while the other was staring past him. "Most civilizations don't achieve that level of anti-gravity engineering until after they've left their home system."

"The biggest anti-grav generator on the planet," Marrow automatically answered, "powered by the finest Gravity Dust." He wondered if the aliens would believe him if he told them the truth. Then again, Magic hadn't been something that featured largely in sci-fi unless it was made for younger kids.

"Gravity Dust?" Rekaxir cocked his head, both eye turrets focused on Marrow now. "We've got Dust, but I've never heard of Gravity Dust before. What's that?"

Marrow cursed himself, hoping that he hadn't provided a reason for whatever civilization these aliens hailed from a reason to invade and conquer Remnant. They had more than enough on their plate with the Grimm and Salem and her subordinates; they really didn't need invading aliens with advanced technology on top of that.

"Gravity Dust is a variant of Dust that naturally repels against gravity," he explained. "It's what allows our airships to fly."

If these aliens had never heard of Gravity Dust, how had they gotten that spaceship off the ground? Then again, how had it been able to fly outside of an atmosphere in the first place?

"Cool!" Rekaxir said, opening his mouth in what looked like a grin. "Where we're from, all Dust can do is blow up."

The only kind of Dust they had was Combustion Dust? How on Remnant- err, how in the world had they advanced at all then?

"The handsome, Meta-Kel-Azaan devil over there is Lop'dolf Omaakixanaca." Dell chuckled. "He understands if you have issues pronouncing his last name. Also, watch your liquor around him; he will drink all of it if you let him."

"My friend," Lop'dolf said haughtily as he slid his huge swords into the scabbards on his back, "alcohol is proof that there is a benevolent power at work in the universe." They paused as though in thought. "Well, that and Human snack food."

This prompted a laugh from the others. Marrow was puzzled; how did any of them know a thing about Humans? He wondered briefly if they differentiated between Humans and Faunus; did they even notice the difference?

"And finally, the captain of our ship, and one of its co-owners-" Dell gave Rekaxir a look that said to keep quiet. "-Garma. He's a Ultra-Chinorr if you were wondering."

"Good to meet you, Operative Amin," the tentacled one, the "Ultra-Chinorr", Garma, said. "I trust that your General is a man of his word, and that our compatriot Mina Jawahir will be returned to us safely?"

Marrow hesitated as the strange eyes of the tentacled alien bore down on him. If the General didn't believe this Mina or her compatriots posed a threat to Atlas, she and they would be fine. If he saw them as a threat, however….

"You saved Mantle and Atlas from the Grimm," he finally replied. "General Ironwood knows that you're allies. It's just...you are-"

"Unprecedented?" Garma guessed.

"I was going to say 'alien'," Marrow answered. "But that works too," he quickly added.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, I'm going to head back to the ship and get the bio-scanner from the medbay," Dell announced as they began walking back to the _Mandalorian_.

"One moment," Marrow said, holding up a hand. "What do you need a 'bio-scanner' for?"

"I'd like to make sure that none of us are carrying any bacteria or viruses that could cause a pandemic here," Dell explained. "Those of us that required a biomask wore one as a precaution. I doubt they want to keep wearing them if they don't have to."

"You doubt right," Tycho said.

"Don't forget," Rekaxir added, "we also want to make sure that none of the bugs down here can kill us. I don't want to look back on my organic body and say 'I H-G-Wellsed that one'."

"Not likely, but I will check for that," Dell responded as they crested over the rim of the trench and disappeared from sight.

"H-G-Wellsed?" Marrow couldn't help but ask.

"It's slang for 'I went to a new planet and died because I had no immunity to a local bacteria'. An old Earth writer by the name of H.G. Wells wrote a book based off of that idea," Rekaxir explained.

Marrow couldn't help but shake his head. Old Earth writer? Every answer these...people provided seemed to spawn one or two more questions. He was starting to get a headache from all this.

The blossoming ache in his head was suddenly eclipsed by a sharper jolt of pain in the base of his tail. With a yelp (a very Human one), he jumped forward, snatching his tail out of the grasp of whoever had pulled it and twisting around to glare at the perpetrator. Despite the Meta-Kel-Azaan's height and size, Marrow didn't flinch back.

"What the Hell!?" he yelled, rubbing his tail. "Why did you pull my tail?!"

"Holy shit, it's real," Tycho exclaimed, staring. "I thought that was just some odd trapping or the like."

"Well, it's not," Marrow snapped, casting the evil eye on the kid as well. "It's my tail and he just pulled it!"

"My deepest apologies," Lop'dolf said, giving a short bow. "I've never seen a tail on a Human before; I assumed it was something that had gotten caught on your coat."

Before Marrow could reply to that, Garma broke in.

"Operative, would you kindly reassure your troops?" he asked, gesturing with a tentacle. "They appear tense right now."

Marrow glanced in the direction the tentacle was pointing and spotted a number of troops watching them and talking amongst themselves. A few had their guns in hand and looked like they were contemplating raising them.

"It's alright," he called out to them. "Just a misunderstanding, go back to your duties."

Those troops who had been watching the debacle quickly broke up and hurried off. Despite how reassuring it was to see them snap to his orders, Marrow couldn't help but wonder how many of them were gritting their teeth at having to take orders from a Faunus.

"I accept your apology," he said stiffly to Lop'dolf, making sure to stand where he could watch the huge insect. "And I'm a Faunus, not a Human," he added.

For some reason, that got him looks from all of them, especially Lop'dolf and Rekaxir.

"Uh, you don't look like a god to me." Rekaxir said after a long moment.

"What," was all that Marrow could say to that.

"You literally just said, quote, 'And I'm a god of animals, not a Human', unquote," Rekaxir answered, making air quotes with his hands.

"He didn't say that," Tycho interjected. "He said he's a Faunus."

"Now you're saying it!" Rekaxir protested. "You just said, that he said, that he's a god of animals!"

"It's your translator," Garma cut in, a note of exasperation coming out in their strange voice. "It's translating every word he's saying, no matter what Human language it's from, into whatever Lokken language you've set your translator to."

"Oh," Rekaxir said, looking at the ground with both eyes. "I really need to get my translator updated."

"What is a Faunus anyways?" Tycho asked.

"On Old Earth, it was the name of the Roman God of Animals," Hask said, filling in for Marrow as he tried to find an answer to the question. "The root for it is the Latin word, 'fauna', meaning 'animal'. Though I think he might have a different answer."

Marrow nodded. "It's the name of my people," he said cautiously. He gestured back towards his tail. "Faunus are people born with animal traits. I have a dog tail, so I'm a Dog Faunus."

"Born with?" Rekaxir said, both eyes focused on Marrow. "Not spliced in?"

"No." Marrow shook his head. "We've always had them, as far back as we can remember."

"Now, what is going on here?"

They all turned to find Dell trudging through the upturned snow, a small case in one hand.

"I leave you all alone for five minutes and it looks like you're all about to start an international incident," they said as they approached. "I should have sent Rekaxir to get the bio-scanner."

"That wouldn't have stopped Lop from pulling his tail," Tycho pointed out.

Dell's mouth dropped open. "You did what?" they said, staring at Lop'dolf before suddenly staring at Marrow. "And you have what?"

Marrow twisted to the side and gave his tail a wag. "I'm a Dog Fauuus," he repeated. "We Faunus are born with animal traits, like tails and ears."

"Ears?" If Rekaxir had possessed a pair of external ears, he looked like they'd be sticking right up. "What kind of-ow!" He glared at Tycho and rubbed his side where he had been elbowed.

"Not now, Rek," the boy said. "Let's see if we can get these blasted masks off first."

Dell kneeled down in the snow and set the case on the ground. Opening the case revealed a number of strange instruments and gadgets, one of which Dell picked up. It resembled a streamlined barcode scanner or a remote control. It turned on without any buttons, a holographic screen appearing over it.

"Access Disease Scanner Function," Dell commanded. "Set to scan new subject for infectious diseases and immunity weaknesses."

The device let out an affirmative beep and Dell stood up. "Stand still please and close your eyes," they instructed, pointing it at him.

Marrow complied. At the last moment, he realized that he should have them scan one of their own first. He opened his eyes only to be blinded as a bright blue light scanned over them. He closed them to avoid the sweeping, horizontal beam a second time.

"I told you to keep your eyes closed," Dell said scoldingly. Marrow was reminded of the medics that saw to his and the Ace Operatives' injuries not ten minutes earlier.

The holo-screen flashed green and Dell nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent; you're carrying nothing new to us. Now let's make sure we're not harboring any tiny stowaways of our own."

They proceeded to scan Tycho, Rekaxir, and Lop'dolf against his own immune system, giving them a clean bill of health each time and allowing them to take off their bio-masks. When the scanner went over Hask, however, it gave a negative _beep_ and the screen flashed red.

"Hask, you have a strain of vlaren bacteria that could prove detrimental to Marrow and to the other natives," Dell reported, looking over the screen. "We should have some medical nanites on the ship that we can program to clean those up."

Hask let out a growl as Dell began to put the scanner back into the case.

"Hold on," Marrow spoke up. "Aren't you going to scan yourself and Garma?"

"No need to," Dell replied. "The nanites in our synthetics bodies automatically eliminate any microscopic lifeforms that access our systems."

"Synthetic?" The realization popped into Marrow's head. "You mean you're just a robot?" he asked.

Tycho, Rekaxir, and Lop'dolf all jumped when he said that, the latter letting out an "uh-oh".

"Yes," Dell said icily as they looked him flatly in the eye. "In the same way that you're just a monkey."

Marrow felt a surge of anger at the machine's words, but reined it in. Dell clearly wasn't "just a robot"; he had mistaken them for an organic being after all.

"My apologies," Marrow said after getting his emotions back in control. "I've only known one other...artificial person, and she looked far more Human than, well, you do, no offense." He cleared his throat nervously.

"Apology accepted," Dell said, a sad look coming into their eye. "I'm sorry for snapping at you; I have some unpleasant memories associated with being 'just a robot'."

Marrow straightened up when he heard that. "I don't want to bring up anything unpleasant, but do those memories have anything to do with...not being considered a person?"

Now it was Dell's turn to straighten up and look at him in a new light. "Yes," they replied. "I take it that Faunus have been, or are, subject to prejudice and discrimination?"

"Yes," Marrow answered quietly. "There is prejudice against my people, even here in Atlas. But it was much worse in the past. The Kingdoms used to enslave us, or worse."

"You were slaves?"

Marrow turned around to find Hask staring at him. There was an odd note in her voice; he wondered if it was real, or if it was some kind of error.

"Your people are emancipated?" she continued.

"Yes," Marrow said. "There's still a lot of problems between Humans and Faunus, but it's improving...slowly. And your people aren't free?" he asked.

Hask's nod was stiff. "Centuries ago, we believed Mankind to be weak and so attacked, looking to take what they had and make them serve us." She sighed. "We were wrong, and now, all Tzynn serve Humanity."

"Not all of us," Tycho snapped. "Don't lump me and the UIN in with the Commonwealth."

Hask snarled at Tycho and looked like she was going to say something in return. Dell abruptly appeared between the two of them.

"Hask'Ekalim, we are going to go back to the ship and find those medical nanites, ok?" Dell's voice was calm, but held a note of steel, maybe something stronger, beneath it. "You can warm up while I get the auto-doc ready. Does that sound good?"

Hask stopped as she considered his words. After a long moment, she grunted before turning around and marching to the ship. Dell gave Tycho a look before following after her.

"Holy crap, man." Rekaxir let out a whistle. "You must really want to throw manipulators with her today."

"She said that 'all Tzynn serve Humanity'," Marrow said slowly. "But we've never been invaded by aliens."

"She meant the Commonwealth," Tycho said bitterly. "Those pendejos give all of us a bad name. Their idea of good, clean fun is conquering and enslaving anything that isn't Human."

"What...that doesn't make any…you're not Human!" Marrow finally burst out.

"What?" Tycho exclaimed, staring at him. "Of course I'm Human, look at me!"

"Yes, look at you," Marrow responded, pointing. "Your eyes are smaller, your mouth and nose are bigger, and you have six fingers."

"That's completely-" Tycho began.

"Enough." They both jumped at the word and turned to find Garma looming behind them. He held up the bio-scanner, wrapped securely in one facial tentacle. It looked comically small next to his huge frame. Marrow wondered how he could move so quietly.

"As much our dear Lop would love to see the two of you arguing," he chuckled before getting serious again, "I think it would be better to settle this with a DNA scan. Is that amenable?"

Marrow and Tycho looked to each other. "I'm game if you are," Tycho said.

Marrow nodded at him before looking back at Garma. "Go right ahead."

"Access DNA Identification function," he said. At the affirming _beep_ , he pointed the device at Tycho and tapped the scan icon. This time the horizontal array of beams was blue. When the results for the strange boy came up, Garma rotated the screen around for them.

"Subject Species: Neo-Human. Genetic Traits: Latent Psionic, Cybernetic, Enduring, Intelligent, Bioadaptive, Adaptive. Nomadic, and Wasteful," Tycho listed off. "Now it's your turn."

"Wait-" Marrow started to say, but the scanner was already going over him. He quickly shut his eyes to keep from getting blinded again.

"Subject Species: Human. Genetic Traits: Latent Psionic, Adaptive, Nomadic, and Wasteful. Note: Mutation Detected. Mutation Status: Stable, benign, and beneficial." Tycho looked back at him. "That last bit must be about your tail."

"So," Marrow said slowly, "This Commonwealth wouldn't enslave me for having a tail then?"

"Nope," Tycho said. "I'll give the Commoners this: If you're Human, they'll treat you right, unless they don't like your politics. Other than that, you're golden."

"And there are Human civilizations out there," he pointed up, "and not just alien civilizations?"

"Yep," Tycho said. "Two to be exact: The Commonwealth of Man, which is where Mina is from, and the United Interstellar Nations, UIN for short, where I and Rekaxir hail from."

"What's a Neo-Human?" Marrow asked, remembering what the device had to say about Tycho before it had gone on to him.

"We in the UIN call ourselves Neo-Humans due to the genetic and cybernetic modifications we've made," Tycho answered. "That began about fifty years back, after the Machine War."

"Huh," Marrow said, deep in thought. "I think I need to sit down and process all of this."

"Here." Tycho raised a hand and the case closed, jumping from where Dell had left it and landing in a graceful arc just behind Marrow. "No point in getting your duds wet and messy."

Marrow just nodded and sat down on the offered case. It didn't even creak, so that was nice. He looked over the perimeter of Atlesian troops. There was already a barrier going up and soon their visitors and their ship would have all the privacy they could ever need. Thankfully, the soldiers appeared to be getting used to them, even Garma.

He looked up at Atlas, shining like a gem in the early sunlight, like existence hadn't changed forever and it was still the most powerful and advanced civilization in the world. Marrow wondered how things were going between Ironwood and this Mina Jawahir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that all came across as realistic. As a writer, one wants their ideas to be entertaining, yet plausible. I also hope that I wrote Marrow and Ironwood well, along with my OCs. It might be a good idea for me to begin writing something of a codex to explain the story I came up for the preset empires and the events leading up to the Mandalorian crash-landing on Remnant.
> 
> Another quick little note: In Stellaris, the planetary features where deposits of Volatile Motes can be found and exploited are called "Dust Caverns" and "Dust Deserts". The description for Volatile Motes is this: "These preternatural particles contain a tremendous amount of energy which could be exploited in energy production, as fuel or even as explosives." Between calling Motes "Dust" and this description, it's safe to say that Volatile Motes and Dust are one and the same.
> 
> Please leave a comment with your ideas, opinions, and thoughts about my story and this chapter in particular. Have a good one, and happy reading!


	4. Interrogation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING. THIS CHAPTER HAS NOT BEEN BETAREAD. 
> 
> I'm in the market for a betareader. I'm looking for someone who's good at spotting spelling and grammar errors, along with identifying if a character's speech patterns and actions are in line with their character. Also, I want to make sure that I do my story and its fandom justice with the events that I go into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BE WARNED. THIS CHAPTER HAS NOT BEEN BETAREAD. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.
> 
> Sorry for the long wait. My betareader started a new college semester and it took up their time to the point they couldn't betaread. As their college studies are more important, we broke it off and I'm current in the market for a new betareader for "The Sapients Seven".
> 
> If you or someone you know would be interested in proofreading my chapter drafts for the Sapients Seven, please shoot me a PM. I am not at all a fan of "Unbetaed we die like men".
> 
> On a more interesting note, I found a couple of music covers on YouTube that I feel make for good theme songs for two of my OCs. They are by "LeeandLie", who makes great music covers of anime openings and songs. The first is a remix of Persona 5's "Rivers in the Desert", while the second is an English version of Re:Zero's opening "Long Shot". Who can guess which of my OCs each of these songs pertains to?
> 
> Please leave a review or PM me with your thoughts, comments, and ideas. Enjoy!

**Interrogation**

Ironwood considered the woman as the manta began its flight back to Atlas. She was of slightly greater height than average, dark skin, red hair, heterochromatic eyes, amber and blue, overall very striking. She wore a biomask and a full bodysuit, though judging by its design, it wasn't meant for the usual activities that came with such apparel. It was practical, meaning to provide its wearer decency when climbing into and out of the suit of armor she had been wearing. The muscles that peeked out along the suit meant that she kept herself fit and hinted at a good amount of strength for someone without Aura.

It was her bearing that interested him the most. She walked with the grace and confidence that a Huntress or soldier typically had, a Human predator stalking forward. She was either military or ex-military, which was both relieving and concerning. It was relieving in that they could both speak the same language (figuratively and literally).

It was concerning in that she wasn't a member of the Atlesian military, the only military in all of Remnant and until a few minutes ago, the only known military in existence. And if whatever military she hailed from could exterminate Grimm so easily, they could become a problem very quickly if they proved to be hostile.

He had to be very careful here; he couldn't afford to make Atlas an enemy of these people. He had almost made that mistake back at the crash site. He was no longer one of the most powerful individuals in the world. For all he knew, that title now belonged to her, or to Garma.

The woman was looking right back at him, her smallish eyes collecting data about him as he had done to her. She had already taken note of her surroundings, of the guards on either side of her, and of the pilot and co-pilot's seats at the bow of the manta. If he or one of his men were to try something, she likely had already planned how to take them down and take control of the vehicle. Not that her plans concerning him would work due to the advantages that Aura gave him, but she didn't know about that.

When the manta landed, Ironwood got up and walked over to the door. "This way please," he said, motioning for them to follow.

The guards got up, followed only a second later by the woman. Her eyes never stopped looking around, taking in her surroundings and factoring in the new information. As they walked towards the academy, he would glance back at her occasionally to assess her reactions and responses to the best that Remnant had to offer.

She didn't seem particularly impressed by what she was seeing. Most of the time, when someone came to Atlas for the first time, there was a look of awe and/or admiration on their face. There was none of this on hers. It wasn't disappointment that her eyes and body language spoke of; just a sense that she had seen greater than this and wasn't surprised that they weren't on whatever level she was used to.

Once inside the campus, he began leading them towards one of the interrogation rooms. Soldiers, students, and other personnel stopped to salute him as they went by. They gave the woman looks of curiosity and inquisitiveness, but wisely held off from asking questions and went about their business.

There was a flash of approval in her eyes whenever this happened. She must lay a good amount of stock in professionalism then.

The only time she showed any surprise was when Team FNKI stopped and saluted him.

"General Ironwood," Coal addressed him.

"Team Leader Coal," he acknowledged the salute with one of his own as he passed. Team FNKI was one of the best undergraduate teams of Atlas after all.

He glanced back at the woman just in time to see her eyes widen in surprise. Following her line of sight, he found that she was staring at Neon Katt's tail as they went by. She followed the Cat Faunus as far back as her head could go until she was out of view. She quickly returned to staring straight ahead, her unfazed and unimpressed look cracked by an instant of surprise and curiosity.

When they got to the interrogation room, Ironwood walked ahead and pulled out her seat for her. She raised an eyebrow before taking it.

"When the prisoners arrive, go get Hill and bring her here," he ordered the guards. After their dual "yes sir"s and the door was closed and locked, he took the opposite seat from the woman. With nothing else to do, he took out his scroll, put it down on the table, and began going through the updates. Using it with just one functional arm was proving bothersome.

Specialist Schnee and the rest of the Ace Operatives were healing up nicely; they could be back in action before noon. The temporary cover-up of the starship was in progress; there was already a barricare between it and Mantle's defensive wall, and several scrolls had been confiscated from watchers on the wall and their owners temporarily detained. The remaining Grimm in Mantle were being hunted down and the city would soon be Grimm-free; when it became clear that Salem's Grimm horde wasn't going to be a problem, he had ordered the operations in Mantle to re-commence. The replacement for his burned arm was ready for surgery.

He glanced up at the woman after going through the updates. Boredom had yet to set in. She was too busy looking around. First at him, then at the door, then at the cameras in the corners, and then back at him. A look of annoyance was beginning to grow in her eyes.

He was able to issue a few more orders before the guards finally arrived with Robyn Hill in tow.

"What is going on, James?" she demanded as she was led in. One of the guards had thoughtfully brought in another chair to be put between him and the woman. Hill had to be pushed down into it before the guards left to guard the room.

"Why are you doing this?" Hill snarled, glaring at him. "Abandoning Mantle to this Salem and then ordering Qrow and Team RWBY's arrests-"

"Salem's Grimm horde has been eliminated," Ironwood interrupted, putting his scroll away and facing her. "We appear to have no reason to abandon Mantle at this time, so that is currently off the table."

"You can't just arbitrarily choose to leave people and then protect them-" she started again.

"That is enough, Hill," Ironwood snapped. "I need your Semblance right now, so would you kindly take her hand?" he gestured to the woman. She had been watching the exchange with the embarrassment of someone caught in a fight who didn't know what was going on and didn't particularly want to be there.

Hill narrowed her eyes. "I'm not your little lie detector, James," she growled. "Now let me out of these cuffs and let me go."

He glared at her before taking out his scroll and typing in a new order. Robyn Hill was very loyal to the members of her team. A chink in her armor.

"My friends call me James," he said. "To you, it's General."

Before sending it, he held it out to Hill so that she could read it. Her eyes widened as she read the new arrest orders for Fiona Thyme, Johanna Greenleaf, and May Marigold.

"You son of a-" she began.

"Use your Semblance here or I send these orders out," he interrupted. "Your team is already under suspicion for insurrection. I send this out, and they will occupy cells next to yours in short order." After a moment to let that sink in, he added, "I guarantee it."

Robyn looked like she wanted to keep arguing, but wisely shut her mouth. Stiffly, she turned to the woman and opened her hands to let her take them.

The woman looked at the offered hands, then at Hill, and then at him before slipping a hand into Hill's. When the pale lilac Aura of Hill's Semblance establishing a connection with another's soul came into view, the woman's eyes widened. She appeared to fight the instinct to rip her hand out of Hill's, succeeding after a moment. She kept her eyes on Hill, however.

So, she had a good amount of self-control as well.

"What is your name?" he asked without preamble.

She glanced away from Hill and towards him before answering.

"Mina Jawahir." Odd name, but the Aura turned green.

"Was Garma telling the truth?" he continued, thinking back to what the...alien had told them.

"Yes," she said.

The question of whether Humanity and Faunus were alone as species in the universe had finally been answered. Now, were they as civilizations as well?

"You have the bearing of someone who's served in the military," he continued. "Have you?"

"Yes," she said again.

"Not in the Atlesian military, however," he said. "Whose military?"

She paused before answering. "I served in the 126th Assault Legion of the Commonwealth Marine Corps." Again, green.

"What is the Commonwealth?" he asked. He could get to what a "Marine Corps" was later.

"The Commonwealth of Man is my country," she answered. "It is an interstellar Human civilization."

"What the hell?!" Hill stared down as the Aura turned green again. "What is going on, James?!" she demanded again.

"Hill," he said warningly, holding up the scroll. "This is between me and her, stay out of this."

"I would," Hill replied, "if you weren't using my semblance and her ridiculous answers weren't registering as the truth. What in the name of the Brothers is this?"

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Both he and Hill looked to the woman, Mina, who now looked thoroughly annoyed.

"Enough with the pussyfooting," she growled. "My name is Mina Jawahir. I was born on the planet Demeter in the Commonwealth of Man. I served the Commonwealth in the Kodranite Campaign. I came to this star system in a spaceship. We got our ass shot off by accident by a hostile Norillgan fleet that jumped into the system. We watched an unkillable witch fight and then torture a bunch of kids with weird weapons, outfits, and superpowers before we intervened. We drove off the witch and helped to massacre her army of fairytale nightmares, without pay I might add. You're welcome, by the way."

Throughout her tirade, the Aura remained green.

"Salem retreated?" He straightened up. "You drove her off?"

She raised an eyebrow. "If Salem was the black-veined, corpse-pale freak that could regenerate her head after an tungsten round takes it off, then yes, we drove her off."

The Aura turned green once more.

Whenever there was a goal that Ironwood needed his complete focus on without his train of thought going off the rails, he simply had to activate Mettle. Until the goal was fulfilled or he turned it off, Mettle would stay in effect. Just before he had shot Ozpin in the Relic Vault, he had set down "Raise Atlas" as the goal. As Ozpin had stood in the way of that goal, it had been a simple act for Ironwood, under the effect of Mettle, to shoot him off the platform.

Were it not for Mettle, he wouldn't have been able to shoot Ozpin, one of his oldest (former) friends, and currently inside the body of a fourteen-year-old body. It had made so many things easier ever since the Fall of Beacon. Well, that and a few other things.

He had given himself a new goal right after all that: Defend Atlas from Salem. Now that someone had already fulfilled that goal, there was no need for Mettle to be on and he "switched" it off.

He took a deep breath as the emotions once again flooded his chest. Fear for Atlas, first from Salem and then from these strangers; curiosity for the strangers and the woman - Mina; annoyance, for her reaction at Atlas; anger at Hill and her disloyalty; and gratitude, for the actions of Mina and her allies, came over him in varying amounts from when they would have normally occurred had Mettle not been active. He settled on the most recent one, gratitude.

"Thank you, Miss Jawahir," he said most sincerely. "That was the biggest Grimm horde in recorded history. Were it not for your intervention, first Mantle and then Atlas," he gave Hill a look at that, "would have been overrun. I'd be happy to pay you and, your associates, for your trouble."

Mina looked taken back at his new manner. Mettle had a tendency of making him sound, and sometimes act, robotic. He had once been told that his eyes turned "dead" whenever he used it. It had cost him a lot personally back in his younger days.

"You're welcome," she said, this time without sarcasm. "We can discuss payment after we've cleared a few things first. I have a few questions of my own, if that's alright."

"Of course," he responded. He held up the scroll so that Hill could see it and pressed the button to cancel the order for the new arrest warrants. More guilt bubbled up in his chest for using that against her, but he squashed it down. He tapped another command into his scroll and her cuffs fell off.

"There are two guards outside," he said as she stared down in surprise at her freed hands. "Between us and the hangers are more than enough soldiers, robots, and operatives to take you down," he warned.

He held out his good hand to her newly freed one. "Don't try anything, Hill, please," he added.

Hill gave him a dirty look, but reached up and took his hand. He had sometimes wondered if she would be able to use her Semblance on two people at once, or if it would be too much for her. It wasn't too much as shown by the glow that came over their joined hands.

Only a few hours earlier, she had taken his hand so that he could announce the existence of Salem to the citizens of Atlas and of Mantle. They had stood together in front of the camera, and now here they were, in another cell behind layers and layers of Atlesian security measures.

He motioned to Mina. "What do you want to know?" he asked.

Mina immediately pointed to her Hill's hands. "What the hell is that?" she asked.

"That's my Semblance," Hill answered. "I call it 'Lie Detection'. It lets me see if someone is telling me the truth."

"What's a Semblance?" Mina immediately followed up with another question. Hill was visibly taken back by it, and frankly, so was Ironwood.

"A Semblance is an ability unique to each person that has their Aura activated," he responded slowly.

"What's Aura?" she said.

"What the hell?" Hill said. "Are you even Human?"

Mina glared at Hill. "Yes," she said through gritted teeth. She held up Hill's hand in her own and then squeezed, making Hill wince in pain and her Aura flare up around her hand. "In fact, I'm Super-Human," she declared matter of factly. She relaxed her grip only when the Aura turned green.

Anyone without Aura who could hurt someone with it could be considered that. It was strange to hear it said without a gram of egocentrism. When she had said it, she had said it as fact.

"Are you Human? 'My, my, grandma, what huge eyes you have'," she continued, evidently quoting something.

"Yes," Ironwood said, frowning at her words. "We're Human. What does that have to do with our eyes?"

"They're big, for our species," Mina said before screwing up her face in thought. "Then again, there are a number of scientists who say that baseline Humans will develop bigger eyes in the future, for better sight. That's supposed to be thousands of years from now though, not the few hundred you've been here."

It took both Hill and Ironwood a moment to absorb that.

"Uh, what do you mean, 'a few hundred years'?" Hill asked. "Our history is full of holes, but we know that people have been here for at least the past few thousand years."

"Few thousand…." Mina gaped at them for a few seconds before she groaned and adopted a look of exasperation. "The Norillga, of course. There's an advanced alien species nearby that was conquering the galaxy when Humans on Earth were figuring out agriculture."

When the Aura turned green, she continued. "It's possible that the Norillga took some Humans from Earth and resettled them on this planet as part of some kind of experiment."

Her brow wrinkled in thought as soon as she said that. "Now that I say that, what was that girl in the hall, the one with the tail?"

"That was Neon Katt, and she's a Faunus," Ironwood began. "Before you ask, the Faunus are a group of people here on Remnant who possess animalist traits. Neon Katt has a cat tail, thus making her a Cat Faunus."

Mina was silent for a moment before opening her mouth. "She's a Cat Faunus, and her last name is Cat?" she asked, incredulity in her voice.

"With a K, yes," he said. Mina only shook her head.

"We've got no one like that in either the Commonwealth or the UIN," she said. "And I don't think that there are any xeno species that have an equivalent. Now, before we get sidetracked again, what is Aura?"

"Aura is the physical manifestation of the soul," Ironwood said. "Those with it are able to channel it into a defensive field and to strengthen themselves. It's a requirement to having a Semblance. Those with it are our best defense against the Grimm."

"I didn't ask if you were Human because of your eyes," Hill said. "I asked because the Grimm are the only things on Remnant that can't generate an Aura. If they can't, and you don't know what Aura is-"

"Do I have a soul?" Mina guessed Hill's question. At Hill's nod, she shrugged. "Without scientific proof, that question has remained one for philosophers and theologians. Atheists say no, agnostics say maybe, and theists say yes. I am one of the very latter.

"You're assuming that Aura is a manifestation of the soul. What if it's a manifestation of microevolution, your genetic code making changes over generations within your species, making sure the Grimm don't wipe you out, instead?"

Hill looked like she was about to argue so Ironwood quickly cut in. "Why wasn't Remnant discovered earlier?"

"That was likely the Norillga's fault. They were right next door to you until about a decade ago," Mina explained. "They were a Fallen Empire, an interstellar nation who was conquering the stars whose heyday is long. Their territory was greatly reduced, while still holding on to enough technology and firepower to keep potential conquerers away.

"The Norillgan Remnant was very...protective of their territory, prohibiting anyone from claiming the systems right next to their own. It turns out, your system was one of those, which is why the Commonwealth or the UIN didn't discover you sooner I guess. Whoever surveyed this system must have run the moment they were done from fear of the Norillga."

"You keep mentioning the Commonwealth and this 'UIN'," he said. "Why are they so important?"

"Because they are the two Human interstellar civilizations," she replied before frowning. "Well, I should say 'founded by Humans'," she admitted. "The UIN quit being a Human civilization a long time ago."

"Why the divide between the two?" Hill asked. "Was one of them like Remnant?"

"Remnant? That's what you call your planet?" At their nods, Mina made a humming noise.

"Yes and no," she began. "The UIN, the 'United Interstellar Nations' to be exact, was founded on Humanity's homeworld of Earth in the Sol System. The Commonwealth of Man, on the other hand, was the result of a nearly failed colonization project almost four hundred years ago. We spread out from the moon of Unity, in the Deneb system.

"As for why we're divided, it's simple. The UIN is democractic and puts far too much trust into diplomacy when it comes to Xenos. They allow Xenos to live among them as equals, they adapt to alien cultures and philosophies and integrate them into their own, and interspecies relationships are allowed, if you can believe that," she finished

"Can they interbreed?" Ironwood interrupted out of curiosity.

"Yes," Mina answered. "The resulting offspring always inherit the mother's appearance, so no mish-mashes of Human and Xeno features, just genetic traits."

"And what of the Commonwealth?" Hill asked, her voice flat.

"The Commonwealth of Man is a military dictatorship; our military is our government, and our Grand Marshall is our highest ranking military leader," she responded, narrowing her eyes at both of them. "Your civilization is obviously militaristic, but even egalitarian civilizations can value those ethos, despite how inefficient that combination is."

"The Kingdom of Atlas chooses the members of its council, for the most part," Hill said, looking at Ironwood from the corner of her eye. "Something that a certain someone should remember."

"Hold on," Mina held up a finger. "You elect your leaders, and yet you still call yourself 'kingdoms'? Do you keep your monarchs and their families as figureheads?"

"Well, no," Hill said. "What would we call the kingdoms, if not that?"

"Nations or countries," Mina said. "In our history, and in most others, the word 'kingdom' usually indicates a government headed by a monarch. It's not really used as a synonym for a nation-state."

Before Hill or Ironwood could respond to that or ask another question, there was a pounding at the door. Ironwood let go of Hill's hand, reaching down to grab her handcuffs off the floor. He quickly snapped one cuff around her wrist before putting the other on the table leg. He got up from his chair and turned towards the door, ignoring Hill's protests.

The doors opened from the other side before he could get to them, Councilmembers Sleet and Camilla pushing past the protesting guards.

"What in Oum's name do you think you are doing, James?!" Camilla demanded as soon as she saw him.

"What's this about martial law?" Sleet started in. "Have you lost your damn mind?!"

Sleet was the member of the Atlesian council that he liked the most, someone who had built himself up without compromising his moral character. Camilla had been old money, someone who hadn't had to struggle much to gain her position. Jacques had built himself through unethical practices and cutthroat business maneuvers, and had also stolen the election from Hill. And if Hill had been elected as she likely would (and rightly should) have been, her independent streak would have caused its own problems.

Having the two remaining council members standing against him now would only sow dissension among the populace and doubt among the ranks. Dissension and doubt would lead to weakness, and weakness would give Salem opportunities to strike at Atlas later. They couldn't afford to have any weakness, and therefore, right now, he couldn't afford to have any.

Just as he had with Oscar, he focused his mind on what he had to do. Everything else in his mind faded away, leaving only the goal. Emotion faded with it, an effect he had originally hated due to his ancestors' involvement in the Suppressionist movement. That old hate had faded to dislike as he had come to accept it, and over the months since Beacon, even that dislike had finally gone.

Eliminating both of them would be too wasteful. Of the two of them, Slate was more popular. While he was Atlesian, he had more in common with a Mantellian than Camilla did, thus making him a more likely figurehead for people to gather behind. Camilla was far more likely to crumble under pressure, while a show of force would only strengthen Slate's resolve. Therefore, Slate was the cleanest option.

His course of action decided upon, Ironwood drew Due Process, aimed quickly, and fired. Both bullet and gun, like most Huntsmen weapons, had been designed to be used by someone with an active Aura, against someone with an active Aura or a Grimm. If someone without Aura were to fire it, the kickback would likely shatter the bones in their hand.

For someone without Aura to be on the receiving end meant either a death sentence or a trip to the emergency room for a prosthetic or heavy reconstructive surgery. Slate was both fortunate and unfortunate; Ironwood couldn't possibly miss his target at this range.

The bullet slammed into Slate right in the middle of his chest, sending him to slam against the wall next to the door. Robyn let out a shout as the small room magnified the sound of the gunshot into a cannon blast. In shock, Camilla watched as Slate's body slid down the wall, leaving a massive trail of blood in his wake.

The guards burst into the room, weapons out, only to freeze upon seeing him with Due Process drawn and Slate on the ground. They looked back up at him uncertaintly.

"Councilwoman Camilla is to be taken to her residence and put under indefinite house arrest," he ordered, pointing at his former colleague. To their credit, they hesitated only for a moment before moving forward and grabbing Camilla by the shoulders. She didn't resist as she was led away.

He slipped Due Process back into its holster and held a hand to his earpiece. "Have someone come to Interrogation Room 4 and take...Councilman Slate to the morgue." He glanced down at the mortal coil of the councilman and fought down the surge of guilt. "And have someone come to take Robyn Hill to whatever stockade Qrow Branwen is being held in," he added. He turned Mettle off to the chorus of their "yes sir"s as he turned back to Hill and Mina.

Hill was staring at him in abject horror, halfway out of her chair thanks to the cuffs. Mina, on the other hand, had stayed in her seat and was just...looking at him. He remembered back to an academy lecture in which a caged Grimm had been present. One of the students on the front row had their entire attention on the Grimm, eyes watching its every move, ears listening to its every growl, tensed to either fight or run should it get loose and turn its attention on them. Mina had the exact same look in her eyes and the exact same body language: She knew that she was in a room with a predator

"You're actually doing it; you're taking over," Hill said, horror and disbelief in her voice. "James, you can't do this! Why are you doing this?"

"I'm doing everything I can to defend this kingdom," he responded, steadily looking back at her. "And I already told you," he continued, uncuffing the table leg and putting it on Hill's other wrist. "Only my friends call me James."

As the guards, joined by a squad of robots, took the last council member of Atlas away quietly, and the should-have-been council away less quietly, Ironwood sighed heavily. He was sorely tempted to take out his flask and take a direct swig of its contents.

After a long moment, he looked up at Mina. She was still staring at him, eyes flicking between him and his gun, tensed and ready to defend herself.

And everything had been going so well, and then it had gone to pieces so quickly. When the duration of silence between them was starting to reach the one-minute mark, he sighed. The mood was gone; there was no point in trying to salvage the situation right at the moment.

"I'll have some men escort you back to the manta and back to your ship," he said quietly, taking out his scroll and relaying the orders. She acknowledged his words with an abrupt nod, staying in her seat. She didn't rise until the guards had arrived. As she was on her way out, Ironwood realized that he couldn't let it go.

For better or for worse, he had essentially made himself into a dictator, an absolute ruler the likes of which hadn't been seen since before the Kingdoms had kings. With the Grimm's ability to sense negative emotions, the old kingdoms of despots hadn't lasted long before they were overwhelmed and consigned to the history bin. Right in front of him was a citizen of an interstellar military dictatorship, and one with military experience as well. For Atlas' sake, he could not pass up this opportunity.

"One moment," he called out to the guards, halting their march. Mina almost ran into them, stopping herself just in time. She turned enough so that she could crane back her head to look at him, tensing once more.

"I-My apologies for what took place here," he said after a moment. "I hope that you would be interested in continuing our conversation at a later date? There is a lot more that we need to discuss. Atlas is in a time of crisis, and your Commonwealth, and your knowledge of it, might be what we need right now."

She regarded him for what felt like an eternity. Just when he thought that she was going to answer in the negative, she nodded.

"Very well," she stated. "Would this evening after dinner work with you?"

He basically gave him twelve hours with which to bring order to both Atlas and to Mantle. He could make that work, plus he would have his scroll to let him know if anything came up during their talk.

"That works," he said, giving her a small smile. "Shall I expect you at 9 PM then?"

"You shall, General, though I would insist that we keep the same arrangement as now: Myself here and one of your men at the _Mandalorian_. Is that acceptable?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Perfectly," he replied. "Tonight then, Ms. Jawahir."

Mina nodded and turned back to the guards, who began advancing once more. Ironwood stepped out of the room and watched them go until they disappeared out of sight.

An idea came to him, and he took his scroll out, accessing the security cameras. He located a feed that overlooked the landing pad of the manta that had brought them back from the crash site just as Mina was preparing to board. Ironwood quickly set the camera to Aura Detection Mode. As everyone possessed their own unique Aura signature, the cameras made it easy to detect anyone who wasn't supposed to be in specific areas. Anything without Aura, such as the Grimm, would be completely invisible against the surroundings.

As the camera switched to Aura Detection, Ironwood's eyes couldn't help but go wide. Whatever doubts he had about Mina possessing a soul had just been wiped away, and very thoroughly at that. If activated, her Aura would be one of the strongest in existence, rivaling Jaune Arc and Yang Xiao Long's.

Frowning in thought again, he went back to the main menu and located a camera that had been set up at the crash site, giving him a good view of Operative Amin and the crewmembers of the _Mandalorian_. He frowned at seeing Marrow sitting on some kind of case in deep reflection while the crewmembers looked around and made conversation.

Flipping the camera mode, he was rewarded with confirmation that all of the _Mandalorian_ 's crew, all the ones he had seen at least (assuming there weren't more hiding away in the ship) had a soul. Not only that, but two of them had enough to reach the Aura activation threshold

Three new things he had learned in the last twenty-four hours (the big ones anyway): Salem couldn't be killed, aliens were real, and aliens had souls. What a day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the first draft I had for this chapter, I had Ironwood simply arrest both Slate and Camilla instead of killing Slate. At the time, I reasoned that with the immediate threat gone, Ironwood would be less likely to resort to such extreme measures. However, from what I can tell of him, once he has chosen a course of action, he will do whatever he thinks he has to do in order to see his goal realized.
> 
> Also, when I first heard of Ironwood's semblance, Mettle, and its effects, I wasn't a big fan. I considered altering it to be something like being able to see an enemy's weak points, but after reading some people's analysis of Ironwood, his personality, and his actions, I think that Mettle is perfect for him. It's a power that he abuses, not because it gains him power over others, but because it allows him to do what he believes necessary, thus making it a curse for him and those around him.
> 
> Any guesses on who the LeeandLie music videos are about? I'm looking forward to making my OCs' personalities bloom as they interact with RWBY's characters. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter; have a good one, everyone, and happy reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I've written ten chapters for this so far, all of them unbetaed. I hope that despite that, you found this to be an enjoyable read. If anyone wants to beta read, please let me know. Along with grammar and punctuation, I also want to make sure that I'm keeping true to the characters of RWBY, and their speech patterns. Hope you liked it; happy reading, everyone!
> 
> Edit: 1/13/2021. This is now chapter one in "The Sapients Seven". I hope this is better enjoyed than my original slap-dash approach. Have a good one, everyone.


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